self-murder

American  

[self-mur-der] / ˈsɛlfˈmɜr dər /

noun

self-murders plural

1. the act of ending one's own life; suicide (sometimes used in historical contexts).

2. any action that is highly destructive to oneself or one's ambitions.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-murderer
  noun

Inflected Forms

noun

• self-murders
  plural

Example Sentences

But why were people prosecuted for attempted "self-murder" and how did things change?

From BBC • Aug. 3, 2011

With the advent of Christianity, condemning as it did the barbarous customs of self-mutilation and self-murder, these practices seem to disappear gradually; but stoicism and indifference to pain were exhibited in martyrdom.

From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by Pyle, Walter L. (Walter Lytle)

Kongti, a devoted Buddhist, declined the fatal draught, on the ground that self-murder was in opposition to his religious sentiments.

From Historic Tales, Vol. 12 (of 15) The Romance of Reality by Morris, Charles

Here, too, we are freed, at the commencement, from all supposition of self-murder.

From The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Willis, Nathaniel Parker

At this moment, a voice issuing from the dungeon where the missionaries were confined, at once dispelled his fears as to the prisoners, and arrested him almost in the very act of self-murder.

From The Ancient Church Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution by Killen, W. D. (William Dool)