dead last
Behind everyone else
Dead last means finishing in the absolute final position, with no one behind you.
The phrase emphasizes the completeness of the failure—not merely last, but emphatically, undeniably last: Our team came in dead last.
Dead here functions as an intensifier meaning exactly or completely, as in dead center or dead wrong.
- also-ranUnsuccessful competitor
- trailingFollowing behind something
- loserDefeated competitor
- bottom feederCreature eating from substrate
- laggingFailing to keep pace
bringing up the rear · losing streak · tail end · slow · laggard · caboose · straggle · defeat · basement · rock bottom · bottom of the barrel · wooden spoon · cellar · outpaced · out of the running · relegation · lag · slump
- death idiomskick the bucket, six feet under, deadbeat, deadpan, bought the farm
- rankingsrankings, first, college rankings, second, third
- standingsrankings, leaderboard, league table, ladder, seeding
- sports loserswooden spoon, cellar dweller, tailender, losing streak, winless
- ranking wordsrated, ranked, scored, firstly, secondly
dead lastfirst place
Winning position
first · number one · in the lead · out in front · at the top
dead lastwinning
Achieving victory
victorious · champion · triumphant · dominant · undefeated
dead lastmiles ahead
last, death, lasting, deadly, everlasting, lasts, lasted, outlast, dead