How to Use dead giveaway in a Sentence

dead giveaway

noun
  • Thanks to a prosthetic leg, the gent’s gait was a dead giveaway.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Not to mention there was a dead giveaway in the corner of the photo.
    — Kara St. Cyr, CBS News, 22 Apr. 2026
  • Players heard that song about five times, tight end Evan Engram cracked, a dead giveaway Franklin was due for a big game.
    — Luca Evans, Denver Post, 27 Oct. 2025
  • For example, the tourist melting in the heat wearing a fedora procured at a cheap souvenir shop near the train station is a dead giveaway of someone not from the area.
    — Nneya Richards, Travel + Leisure, 25 June 2026
  • Boren said that the specifics of SB 726 were a dead giveaway; the goal was to favor companies at the expense of policyholders.
    — J.c. Hallman, Oklahoman, 3 Feb. 2026
  • Metal tree bases are often a dead giveaway that your Douglas fir is faux, but the walled design of Anthropologie’s rattan tree skirt masterfully hides it like a holiday secret.
    — Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 1 Dec. 2025
  • Sam becomes the subject of an intense missing persons investigation and a dead giveaway for Robbie’s culpability should he be discovered by Perry (Jamie McShane), a biker gang member seeking revenge for the crime.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2025
  • The inconsistent likeness on all of the faces (something a portrait illustrator could’ve controlled for) is also a dead giveaway for AI’s limitations, and the synthetic studio backdrop environment makes the whole thing feel like a Lifetouch elementary school photo.
    — Cath Virginia, The Verge, 11 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dead giveaway.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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