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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
Among the challenges Amster will face are a rising euthanasia rate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
Dychtwald also expects that active and passive euthanasia might become openly discussed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
A Spanish woman who has conducted a long legal battle with her father for the right to end her life is due to die by euthanasia on Thursday.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
India legalised passive euthanasia in 2018 but active euthanasia - any act that intentionally helps a person kill themselves - remains illegal.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2026
Many Germans joined with priests, bishops, and other clergy to lobby against the euthanasia action.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Larger dogs can take up to twice as long to get adopted, exacerbating overcrowding and leading to more euthanasias, she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2024
The number of euthanasias performed during those hours at the Baldwin Park shelter could not be determined because many of its time stamps were missing from records.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2023
“I’ve noted that Palmdale and Lancaster have a disproportionately large amount of euthanasias labeled as behavior,” the senior staffer wrote, adding that they had decided to look more closely at the numbers for those shelters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2023
In a different era, the intense animal hoarding might have been handled with back-to-back euthanasias rather than rehousing the cats.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 13, 2020
Every day, five to 12 euthanasias are performed at PVSEC, the region’s largest specialty and emergency veterinary center, seeing several hundred cases a day.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 8, 2017
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.
