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DEATH
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Dictionary entry overview: What does Death mean?
• DEATH (noun)
The noun DEATH has 8 senses:
1. the event of dying or departure from life
2. the permanent end of all life functions in an organism or part of an organism
3. the absence of life or state of being dead
4. the time when something ends
5. the time at which life ends; continuing until dead
6. the personification of death
7. a final state
8. the act of killing
Familiarity information: DEATH used as a noun is common.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
The event of dying or departure from life
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural events
Synonyms:
Context example:
upon your decease the capital will pass to your grandchildren
Hypernyms ("death" is a kind of...):
alteration; change; modification (an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "death"):
fatality; human death (a death resulting from an accident or a disaster)
martyrdom (death that is imposed because of the person's adherence of a religious faith or cause)
megadeath (the death of a million people)
departure; exit; expiration; going; loss; passing; release (euphemistic expressions for death)
wrongful death (a death that results from a wrongful act or from negligence; a death that can serve as the basis for a civil action for damages on behalf of the dead person's family or heirs)
Instance hyponyms:
Crucifixion (the death of Jesus by crucifixion)
Antonym:
birth (the event of being born)
Derivation:
die (pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life)
die (suffer or face the pain of death)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The permanent end of all life functions in an organism or part of an organism
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural phenomena
Context example:
the animal died a painful death
Hypernyms ("death" is a kind of...):
organic phenomenon ((biology) a natural phenomenon involving living plants and animals)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "death"):
cell death; necrobiosis ((physiology) the normal degeneration and death of living cells (as in various epithelial cells))
gangrene; mortification; necrosis; sphacelus (the localized death of living cells (as from infection or the interruption of blood supply))
brain death; cerebral death (death when respiration and other reflexes are absent; consciousness is gone; organs can be removed for transplantation before the heartbeat stops)
Derivation:
die (pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life)
die (suffer or face the pain of death)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The absence of life or state of being dead
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Context example:
he seemed more content in death than he had ever been in life
Hypernyms ("death" is a kind of...):
state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "death"):
eternal rest; eternal sleep; quietus; rest; sleep (euphemisms for death (based on an analogy between lying in a bed and in a tomb))
defunctness; extinction (no longer in existence)
neonatal death (death of a liveborn infant within the first 28 days of life)
cot death; crib death; infant death; SIDS; sudden infant death syndrome (sudden and unexpected death of an apparently healthy infant during sleep)
Derivation:
die (pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life)
die (suffer or face the pain of death)
Sense 4
Meaning:
The time when something ends
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Synonyms:
Context example:
a dying of old hopes
Hypernyms ("death" is a kind of...):
end; ending (the point in time at which something ends)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "death"):
grave (death of a person)
Holonyms ("death" is a part of...):
life; life-time; lifespan; lifetime (the period during which something is functional (as between birth and death))
Antonym:
birth (the time when something begins (especially life))
Derivation:
die (disappear or come to an end)
Sense 5
Meaning:
The time at which life ends; continuing until dead
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Synonyms:
death; last
Context example:
a struggle to the last
Hypernyms ("death" is a kind of...):
end; ending (the point in time at which something ends)
Derivation:
die (pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life)
die (suffer or face the pain of death)
Sense 6
Meaning:
The personification of death
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Context example:
Death walked the streets of the plague-bound city
Instance hypernyms:
imaginary being; imaginary creature (a creature of the imagination; a person that exists only in legends or myths or fiction)
Instance hyponyms:
Grim Reaper; Reaper (Death personified as an old man or a skeleton with a scythe)
Derivation:
die (pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life)
die (suffer or face the pain of death)
Sense 7
Meaning:
A final state
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Synonyms:
death; destruction; end
Context example:
the so-called glorious experiment came to an inglorious end
Hypernyms ("death" is a kind of...):
state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)
Derivation:
die (disappear or come to an end)
Sense 8
Meaning:
The act of killing
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Context example:
he had two deaths on his conscience
Hypernyms ("death" is a kind of...):
kill; killing; putting to death (the act of terminating a life)
Derivation:
die (pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life)
die (suffer or face the pain of death)
deathly (causing or capable of causing death)
Context examples
We know that a man is being done to death, and every hour may be vital.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But she was worked to death.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
But a proclamation was soon issued, to forbid it upon pain of death.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
His death had certainly been instantaneous and painless.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The Death Cap accounts for more than 90 percent of fungus-related poisoning deaths in Europe.
(New Test Identifies Poisonous Mushrooms, Agricultural Research Service)
The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance report predicted this will reach 10 million deaths a year by 2050 if no action is taken now.
(Toothpaste and Hand Wash Are Causing Antibiotic Resistance, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
The Ebola virus causes acute disease that can lead to severe illness and death.
(Experimental Ebola antibody protects monkeys, NIH)
And when he was sitting beside her and very happy, news came that his father lay sick unto death, and desired to see him once again before his end.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Drinking coffee was associated with lower risk of death due to heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and kidney disease.
(Drink Coffee for a Longer Life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
New results synthesized research from drought manipulation studies and revealed the mechanisms by which tree deaths happen.
(What's killing trees during droughts?, National Science Foundation)
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