kamikaze

[ kah-mi-kah-zee ]

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.

adjective

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

   a kamikaze pilot; a kamikaze attack.

kamikaze

/ 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 bomber

   a kamikaze attack

4. modifier extremely foolhardy and possibly self-defeating

   kamikaze pricing

kamikaze

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of kamikaze¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of kamikaze¹

C20: from Japanese, from kami divine + kaze wind, referring to the winds that, according to Japanese tradition, destroyed a Mongol invasion fleet in 1281

Example Sentences

The idea is that the drones carry explosive warheads for kamikaze attacks, making them into miniature cruise missiles.

From MIT Technology Review

Williams describes them as a “gabby seditious lot, in the worst of health but with kamikaze hearts, an army of the aged and ill, determined to refresh, through crackpot violence, a plundered earth.”

From Outside Online

Rubio blew it with immigration, and as for Cruz, I think even most Republicans see that that would be a kamikaze mission.

From The Daily Beast

Expecting people to watch gay men not do that much for half an hour is oddly kamikaze television-making.

From The Daily Beast

The ship was hurried into action and survived multiple kamikaze attacks as well as being torpedoed.

From The Daily Beast

One can only dream, then, of the kamikaze damage Newt can inflict if he keeps his promise to continue fighting to the convention.

From The Daily Beast

Following the debate, the Romney campaign blasted Gingrich for his vengeful “kamikaze mission.”

From The Daily Beast

It had been kamikaze stuff, though there'd been a theoretical chance of the thirty men escaping, to justify sending them out.

From Project Gutenberg

He had some of the characteristics of a kamikaze pilot, too, because there was no telling if he'd get back from his mission.

From Project Gutenberg