zombie apocalypse, n.

zombie-apocalypse
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zombie-apocalypse_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2021

# zombie apocalypsenoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zombie apocalypse mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zombie apocalypse. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zombie apocalypse?

About 0.3occurrences per million words in modern written English

2017 | 0.38
2018 | 0.37
2019 | 0.36
2020 | 0.34
2021 | 0.34
2022 | 0.32
2023 | 0.32
2024 | 0.31

### Where does the noun zombie apocalypse come from?

Earliest known use

1980s

The earliest known use of the noun zombie apocalypse is in the 1980s.

OED's earliest evidence for zombie apocalypse is from 1982, in Monthly Film Bulletin.

### Nearby entries

1. zol, n. 1946–
2. Zolaesque, adj. 1886–
3. Zolaism, n. 1882–
4. Zolaist, n. 1886–
5. Zolaize, v. 1886–
6. Zollinger–Ellison syndrome, n. 1956–
7. Zöllner, n. 1890–
8. zollverein, n. 1843–
9. zolotnik, n. 1783–
10. zombie, n. 1788–
11. zombie apocalypse, n.1982–
12. zombied, adj. 1972–
13. zombie-esque, adj. 1946–
14. zombie-like, adj. & adv. 1932–
15. zombie worm, n. 2005–
16. zombification, n. 1968–
17. zombified, adj. 1965–
18. zombify, v. 1950–
19. zombocalypse, n. 2007–
20. zomboid, adj. 1963–
21. zom-com, n. 2004–

## Meaning & use

1. 1982–
   An imaginary event (as in a film, etc.) in which the world is taken over by zombies.
   Cf. zombocalypse n.
   1. 1982

      > Worldwide fears of a zombie apocalypse are growing rapidly.

      Monthly Film Bulletin January 229/1
   2. 2020

      > Jack and his friends fight for their lives through the zombie apocalypse.

      New York Times (Nexis) 15 November (Late Final edition)

## Frequency

zombie apocalypse typically occurs about 0.3 times per million words in modern written English.

zombie apocalypse is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zombie apocalypse, n., 2017–2024

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the corpus.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 0.38
2018 | 0.37
2019 | 0.36
2020 | 0.34
2021 | 0.34
2022 | 0.32
2023 | 0.32
2024 | 0.31

## Compounds & derived words

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1. zombocalypse, n. 2007–
   An imaginary event (as in a film, etc.) in which…

Originally published as part of the entry for zombie, n.

zombie apocalypse, n. was first published in 2021.