0 a language that is no longer spoken by anyone as their main language: --
1 a language that is no longer used for ordinary communication: --
Latin is a dead language.
For obvious reasons, this is not possible in the case of dead languages.
In contrast to an extinct language, which no longer has any speakers, a dead language may remain in use for scientific, legal, or ecclesiastical functions.
He exhibited an uncommon proficiency in literature and sciences; he composed poetry, often breaking into verse in a dead language in his diaries.
I hope that in the early stages of his speech his use of dead language was no indication of his thoughts for the future of the industry.
They both wrap themselves up in a dead language.
Government is an art so old that many of its principles are clothed in a dead language.
They write their prescriptions in a dead language and an undecipherable scribble to mystify ordinary common folk.
The teaching was virtually identical for all three languages; they were all taught as a dead language.
