deceased vs dead

[AlexAD]

Hi.
I absolutely understand this is the ticklish issue but may I ask native speakers
when do you prefer use one or another?
Thanks in advance.

[The Dude]

I'm just a simple sailor, so I use 'dead'. Always.

'Deceased' is far more formal and would be used in a report, in court or in any situation where you wanted to sound a little pompous. I still use 'dead'.

In exactly the same way, I use 'buy' instead of 'purchase'. They have the same difference. ( does that make sense?)

[Tdol]

You will see deceased person used and dead body, so deceased is sometimes used, I believe, when referring to a person and thinking about their character, estate, etc. However, I think there's a lot of sense in the simple sailor approach outlined above.

[AlexAD]

Thanks, I think I'll take sailor approach
But despite of that fact decesead sounds more politely, yeah.. may be a little bit pompus.

[BobK]

Undertakers (people who organize funerals) - at least professionally - always use a euphemism: 'departed'/'deceased'.... (Away from the public eye, among themselves, they quite probably use the opposite [a 'dysphemism' is the word I think ] and call a dead body somethhing like a 'stiff', or just a 'job'.) Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One is an interesting and amusing source of information and observation about this - for advanced students, that is.

b