samsara
Americannoun
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Buddhism. the process of coming into existence as a differentiated, mortal creature.
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Hinduism. the endless series of births, deaths, and rebirths to which all beings are subject.
noun
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Hinduism the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth
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Buddhism the transmigration or rebirth of a person
Etymology
Origin of samsara
First recorded in 1885–90, samsara is from the Sanskrit word samsāra literally, running together
Vocabulary lists containing samsara
South Asia - Middle School and High School
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History of India - Introductory
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History of India - Middle School and High School
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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.
Not all break free of the eternal wheel of samsara, and each is caught in its dizzying spin at times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
This informs the belief that an individual will bear a future burden for harms committed in the present through the process of samsara, or transmigration and rebirth of the soul.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 15, 2022
And not only like humans: In the cycle of life known as samsara, your consciousness, or that of a loved one, might have once been born in animal form.
From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2022
In short, human beings dwell, as the Buddhists say, in the realm of samsara, bound to a repeated cycle of desire and suffering.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 13, 2021
Helen Rumbelow in the Times called it "truly brilliant": "It's 'groundhog life', or samsara, depending on your low or highbrow preferences".
From The Guardian ● Mar. 15, 2013
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.
