pseudocide

American  

[soo-duh-sahyd] / ˈsu dəˌsaɪd /

noun

1. faked death.

   The staged evidence for his pseudocide included a message of apologetic hopelessness and an abandoned sailboat adrift at sea.

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Etymology

Origin of pseudocide

First recorded in 1955–60; pseudo- ( def. ) + -cide ( def. )

Example Sentences

Solid information is scarce, but “Missing on 9/11” rarely feels like it’s treading water — in one especially compelling chapter, the host, Jon Walczak, enlists an expert on the art of “pseudocide,” a.k.a. faking your own death.

From New York Times

Both of them insist that ghosting rather than faking your death is the way to ditch your old life and responsibilities; death fraud, or pseudocide, is too difficult and too easy to botch.

From Slate

They underestimate the difficulty of cutting off all contact with their former lives, and even the architects of highly elaborate pseudocide plots tend to screw up some obvious detail, like forgetting to delete incriminating messages from their email outboxes or leaving behind a road atlas with the pages mapping their hideout location torn out.

From Slate

Eventually, though, she decides that the “hubris” required to concoct a pseudocide is at odds with the “humility” needed to really pull it off.

From Slate

“Pseudocide” happens for many reasons, such as escaping debt, fleeing abusive spouses, or — the most popular — cashing in on big insurance payoffs.

From Seattle Times