Suicide

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /ˈsuɪˌsaɪd/

Origin

1651, New Latin coinage (probably originating in English) suīcīda, suīcīdium, from Latin suī (from suus ("one’s own")) + Latin -cīda ("one who kills"). Compare self-slaughter, self-blood. Equivalent to + -cide.

Full definition of suicide

Noun

1. (uncountable) Intentional killing of oneself.
• 1904, Harold MacGrath, The Man On The Box, ch. 22:The cowardice of suicide was abhorrent to him.
• 2012, April 19, Josh Halliday, Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?, Other global taboos, such as sex and suicide, manifest themselves widely online, with websites offering suicide guides and Hot XXX Action seconds away at the click of a button. The UK government will come under pressure to block access to pornographic websites this year when a committee of MPs publishes its report on protecting children online.
2. (countable) A particular instance of a person intentionally killing himself or herself, or of multiple people doing so.
• 1919, Edgar Wallace, The Secret House, ch. 14:There had been half a dozen mysterious suicides which had been investigated by Scotland Yard.
• 1999, Philip H. Melling, Fundamentalism in America: Millennialism, Identity and Militant Religion, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-0978-9, page 192:In this way the Heaven's Gate (religious group) community were not only escaping the threat of ‘global destruction’, they were hurling themselves directly into ‘the lap of God’, using their suicide as a way of ‘bridging the chasm’ between an earthly world which had no future and ‘a thousand years of unmitigated peace’.
3. (countable) A person who has intentionally killed him/herself.
• 1915, W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, ch. 95:"I remember one suicide," she said to Philip, "who threw himself into the Thames."
4. (figuratively) An action which could have the literal or figurative death of a person or organization as its consequence, although death is not the aim of the action.
• 1959, Everett Dirksen, in the Congressional Record, Feb. 9, page 2100:^{http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_emd_quotes.htm}... I do not want the Congress or the country to commit fiscal suicide on the installment plan.
• 2000, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, The Ice Limit (ISBN 0446525871):“Mr. Glinn,” said Britton, “it's suicide to take a huge ship like this past the Ice Limit. Especially in this weather.”
• 2004, Robert D. Lock, Job Search: Career Planning Guide (ISBN 0534574211), page 24:... it's suicide to change jobs in mid-career.
5. (countable) A beverage combining all available flavors at a soda fountain.
• 1994, Christopher Buckley, Cruising State: Growing Up in Southern California, University of Nevada Press, ISBN 0-87417-247-0, page 34:You could sit at a corner and order your Suicide, and one of two twin brothers who worked there would hold an old-fashioned soda glass, a heavy tall V-shaped one with a round foot at the bottom, and go down the line with one shot of everything—cherry, lemon, Coke, and chocolate syrups—before adding soda water.
• 2000, Mark Pendergrast, For God, Country and Coca-Cola, Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-05468-4, page 15:Using Coca-Cola as a base, a suicide called for the addition of every other flavor available.
6. A diabolo trick where one of the sticks is released and allowed to rotate 360° round the diabolo until it is caught by the hand that released it.
7. (countable) A run comprising a series of sprints of increasing lengths, each followed immediately by a return to the start, with no pause between one sprint and the next.The coach makes us run suicides at the end of each basketball practice.
8. A children's game of throwing a ball against a wall and at other players, who are eliminated by being struck.

Synonyms

• self-killing
• self-murder
• self-slaughter
• self-slaying

Derived terms

• Terms derived from the noun "suicide"
• Chinese suicide diabolo trick
• infinite suicides diabolo trick
• mass suicide
• murder-suicide
• suicidal
• suicide attack, suicide attacker
• suicide bomb, suicide bomber, suicide bombing
• suicide king
• suicide mission
• suicide note
• suicide pact