How do you say “Dead as a doornail” in French?
The closest natural French equivalent is bel et bien mort, which literally means “well and truly dead”. English speakers use dead as a doornail to mean to be completely dead or no longer working. A direct emphatic match. It can describe something dead or, informally, a device that has stopped working. Register: informal. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural French
bel et bien mort
/bɛl e bjɛ̃ mɔʁ/
- Literal meaning
- “well and truly dead”
- Register
- informal
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Near-exact equivalent
93 out of 100
What a native French speaker would actually say
“Bel et bien” stresses that there is no doubt. With a feminine noun, use “morte”, as in “la radio est bel et bien morte”.
The phrase has none of the odd nail image. It is still blunt when speaking about a person’s death.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning5 out of 5
- Tone4 out of 5
- Context5 out of 5
- Literal similarity2 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
In context
English
The beetle on the windowsill was dead as a doornail.
French
Le scarabée sur le rebord de la fenêtre était bel et bien mort.
English
I tried new batteries, but the old radio was dead as a doornail.
French
J’ai essayé des piles neuves, mais la vieille radio était bel et bien morte.
Related expressions
Last updated 2026-11-13