dead man's switch
"dead-man-s-switch" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dead man's switch” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A switch that ensures a fail-safe condition by automatically triggering an action (for instance, to stop a machine or vehicle) if a specified input from the operator is not made or is altered.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dead-man-s-switch · dead man's switch · English
dead man's switch · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 17 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dead man's switch |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “dead man's switch” in English
Rare enough to double-check
dead man's switch is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A switch that ensures a fail-safe condition by automatically triggering an action (for instance, to stop a machine or vehicle) if a specified input from the operator is not made or is altered.".
Zero misspellings are on record for dead man's switch in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is dead man's switch, spelled D-E-A-D- -M-A-N-'-S- -S-W-I-T-C-H.
Definition
- 1A switch that ensures a fail-safe condition by automatically triggering an action (for instance, to stop a machine or vehicle) if a specified input from the operator is not made or is altered.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dead man's switch appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Holonyms: device, machine
This seat is equipped with a dead man's switch. As the theory goes, "if the driver stops sitting, the machine is quitting."
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.