death wish

death wish
noun
(psychoanalysis) an unconscious urge to die
Syn: ↑death instinct, ↑Thanatos
Hypernyms: ↑urge, ↑impulse

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noun
: the conscious or unconscious desire for the death of another or of oneself

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1. desire for one's own death or for the death of another.
2. Psychiatry. a suicidal desire, manifested by passivity, withdrawal, and absorption in nihilistic thoughts, that may eventually lead to suicidal behavior.
[1910-15]

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death wish noun (psychology)
A wish, conscious or unconscious, for death for oneself or another
• • •
Main Entry:death

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death wish UK US noun [singular]
a feeling of wanting to die
Thesaurus: sadness and unhappinesssynonym

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death wish,
(in Freudian psychology) a wish, either conscious or unconscious, for one's own or someone else's death: »

His hero is a writer whose nature is destructive; at the beginning, we see him with a pronounced death wish which he seems to conquer as he becomes a successful playwright (Malcolm Bradbury).

[translation of German Todeswunsch]

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n. a desire for someone's death, esp. an unconscious desire for one's own death. Compare with death instinct

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noun [singular]
: a desire to die

Have you seen the way she drives? She must have a death wish.

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ˈdeath wish [death wish death wishes] noun singular
a desire to die, often that sb is not aware of

The number of accidents she gets into, you'd think she had a death wish.


Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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