diff --git a/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/daemon/TerminationRequestResult.java b/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/daemon/TerminationRequestResult.java
index 625d17b..3de05a0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/daemon/TerminationRequestResult.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/daemon/TerminationRequestResult.java
@@ -2,6 +2,6 @@ package org.cobbzilla.util.daemon;
 
 public enum TerminationRequestResult {
 
-    alive, interrupted, terminated;
+    alive, dead, interrupted, terminated;
 
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/daemon/ZillaRuntime.java b/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/daemon/ZillaRuntime.java
index 32c0d73..682c29e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/daemon/ZillaRuntime.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/daemon/ZillaRuntime.java
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ public class ZillaRuntime {
     }
 
     public static TerminationRequestResult terminate(Thread thread, long timeout, Function<Thread, Boolean> onlyIf, boolean verbose) {
-        if (thread == null || !thread.isAlive()) return TerminationRequestResult.alive;
+        if (thread == null || !thread.isAlive()) return TerminationRequestResult.dead;
         if (onlyIf != null && !onlyIf.apply(thread)) {
             if (log.isWarnEnabled()) log.warn("terminate: thread is alive but onlyIf function returned false, not interrupting: " + thread + (verbose ? " with stack " + stacktrace(thread) + "\nfrom: " + stacktrace() : ""));
             return TerminationRequestResult.alive;