Meaning

noun the quality of being unresponsive; not reacting; as a quality of people, it is marked by a failure to respond quickly or with emotion to people or events

noun the physical property of something that has lost its elasticity

noun the inanimate property of something that has died

originEtymology tree English dead Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English deadness From dead + -ness.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0