kamikaze

American  

[kah-mi-kah-zee] / ˌkɑ mɪˈkɑ zi /

noun

1. (during World War II) a member of a special corps in the Japanese air force charged with the suicidal mission of crashing an aircraft laden with explosives into an enemy target, especially a warship.

2. an airplane used for this purpose.

3. a person or thing that behaves in a wildly reckless or destructive manner.

   We were nearly run down by a kamikaze on a motorcycle.

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adjective

1. of, pertaining to, undertaken by, or characteristic of a kamikaze.

   a kamikaze pilot; a kamikaze attack.

kamikaze British  

/ ˌkæmɪˈkɑːzɪ /

noun

1. (in World War II) one of a group of Japanese pilots who performed suicidal missions by crashing their aircraft, loaded with explosives, into an enemy target, esp a ship

2. an aircraft used for such a mission

3. (modifier) (of an action) undertaken or (of a person) undertaking an action in the knowledge that it will result in the death of the person performing it in order that maximum damage may be inflicted on an enemy

   a kamikaze attack

   a kamikaze bomber

4. (modifier) extremely foolhardy and possibly self-defeating

   kamikaze pricing

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kamikaze Cultural  

1. Japanese fighter pilots in World War II, trained to make suicide crashes into Allied ships.

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Etymology

Origin of kamikaze

1940–45; < Japanese, equivalent to kami ( y ) god (earlier *kamui ) + kaze wind (earlier *kanzai

Example Sentences

For its part, the U.S. has deployed a new kamikaze drone for the first time, and analysts say that other American UAVs, including the Reaper, will have been in action for surveillance and attack.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

The Institute for the Study of War warned in mid-January that since Russia had begun equipping the cheap kamikaze Molniya-2 drones with Starlink, their battlefield efficiency had increased "dramatically".

From BBC • Feb. 2, 2026

Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said he could take a controlled risk with Kylian Mbappe's fitness ahead of the Spanish Super Cup final on Sunday against Barcelona, but would not be "kamikaze".

From Barron's • Jan. 10, 2026

Playing a high-stress working mom of an ill child, her try-hard heroine leans in so harrowingly far, she goes kamikaze.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2025

Thousands of kamikaze planes, suicide boats, human torpedoes, and midget submarines had been prepared by our enemies.

From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac