euthanasia
Americannoun
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Also called mercy killing. the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, a person or animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition.
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painless death.
noun
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Proposals to make euthanasia legal in the United States have inspired heated debate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of euthanasia
1640–50; < New Latin < Greek euthanasía an easy death, equivalent to eu- eu- + thánat ( os ) death + -ia -y 3
Explanation
Euthanasia is the act of causing a person's or animal's death, without inflicting pain, to end suffering, like when a veterinarian performs euthanasia on a dog that is in great pain and has no chance of recovery. To correctly pronounce euthanasia, remember that it sounds like "youth in Asia." Euthanasia is sometimes referred to as mercy killing, meant to spare a living thing a slow, painful death. Originally a Greek word, euthanasia means "an easy or happy death," as eu- means "good" and thanatos means "death." The use of the word as "legally sanctioned mercy killing" is first recorded in English in 1869.
Vocabulary lists containing euthanasia
National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
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The Martian Chronicles
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The Hot Zone
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In 2022, Astrid van Kleef’s daughter, Nicole, was among those young people who underwent euthanasia at the Euthanasia Expertise Center.
From Salon • Jan. 16, 2025
Euthanasia is currently legal in the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Australia, Colombia, Belgium and Luxembourg under certain conditions.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 10, 2024
Euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a person's life to relieve suffering, in which a lethal drug is administered by a physician.
From BBC • Feb. 29, 2024
Euthanasia is legal in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Spain, and last year an Italian man, paralysed 12 years earlier in a traffic accident, died in Italy's first case of assisted suicide.
From Reuters • Apr. 3, 2023
Euthanasia of the animals with a minimum of suffering.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
