death wish

American  

noun

• death wishes
  plural

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.

---

death wish British  

noun

1. (in Freudian psychology) the desire for self-annihilation See also Thanatos

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• death wishes
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of death wish

First recorded in 1910–15

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

death wish

Sprinting robots hurtled themselves full-speed into a wall like Forrest Gump with a death wish.

From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026

If Evy is virtually alone in a house where strange noises are occurring at all hours, what would possess her to put on noise-canceling headphones, other than a death wish?

From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2026

The director has said that he interprets the death wish in the opera as part of the cycle of rebirth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026

Some, like his biographer Ritz, saw it as the culmination of Gaye’s death wish and thought, “So that’s how he did it.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025

I’m all for being rebellious, but this seems like a death wish.

From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---