1

The opposite of "the man is dead" is "the man is alive".

But I am not sure if the opposite of "the battery is dead" is "the battery is alive".

What is the opposite of "The battery is dead"?

For example, "The battery is usable" or "The battery has power"

3
  • 4
    I would use "partially charged" or "fully charged" in many cases, but just "the battery is live" indicates some power of an undetermined amount. But for most casual conversation (like informing someone that the battery you got out of the drawer still has power) we often simply use "this battery is not dead."
    – Eli Harold
    Commented Mar 9, 2022 at 13:55
  • @EliHarold, do we say "the battery is partially charged" for "one-off battery" bought from shops, not rechargeable batteries?
    – Tom
    Commented Mar 9, 2022 at 14:00
  • Yes, I would use it to describe a non-rechargeable AA battery or the alike. Since the battery was charged at one point, but now has less than full charge "partially charged" makes sense. I can see where that may be confusing though. The difference is that the word "charged" here is the physics definition not the electronics definition. As in, the battery has an "electrical charge" regardless of how or when it was "charged."
    – Eli Harold
    Commented Mar 9, 2022 at 14:13

1 Answer 1

3

No, we keep the word alive for living creatures.

However, when an electric circuit has electricity running through it, we say that the circuit/cable/wire etc is live.

There is an English expression live wire meaning an energetic person, especially a child.

However, we would normally just refer to a battery being (fully) charged or full rather than live.

There is no direct opposite of battery dead or battery flat.

8
  • 1
    @Tom - No we don't say that. We would not refer to the charge state (i.e. partially charged, fully charged, etc.) of a store bought battery. In AmE, we would call non-rechargeable batteries bought from a store Fresh Batteries, New Batteries, or Good Batteries. I am willing to bet BrE has its own words for Fresh Batteries.
    – EllieK
    Commented Mar 9, 2022 at 14:23
  • 1
    @EllieK we do use it for one-off batteries that are not "fresh" (ones that are not fully charged).
    – Eli Harold
    Commented Mar 9, 2022 at 16:21
  • 1
    @EllieK say you buy new AA batteries and use them for your xbox controller for 3 days, but the power goes out and you need those batteries for your flash light. You can now say "I can use these partially charged batteries that I got from my controller." They are partially charged because they have been drained from playing xbox, but they are not yet dead.
    – Eli Harold
    Commented Mar 9, 2022 at 16:28
  • 1
    You may find electrical people (like my father) of older generations saying that a circuit or conductor was 'alive', Even now it is current (no pun!) "If the lamp flashes, the conductor must be regarded as alive" Proving High Voltage Conductors De-Energised (Australian power grid guidance document). Also, it can be understood figuratively - garage mechanic: your battery is alive, but is it not in good health. Commented Mar 10, 2022 at 8:05
  • 1
    @EllieK - one-off is a mainly UK idiom meaning 'done, made, or happening only once', and for batteries, refers to the type which you buy, use until dead, and then throw away. Not re-chargeable, in other words. 'Single use' is another way of saying it. After being manufactured, they decline even if not used. One can try to ensure that they have a reasonable amount of life left by buying from a store that sells a lot of them. Some brands have a 'use by' date. I would want it to be at least a year in the future, if I were going to use them straight away, longer if I were going to store them. Commented Mar 10, 2022 at 8:20

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .