self-immolation
[self-im-uh-ley-shuh n]
- voluntary sacrifice or denial of oneself, as for an ideal or another person.
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Origin of self-immolation
First recorded in 1810–20
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for self-immolation
Contemporary Examples
Or is it “a beautiful flare of ruin, self-immolation, disaster?”
In higher-income countries, self-immolation was rare and most often carried out by males, many of whom had a psychiatric history.
Tibet, Persecution, and Marital Shame: Why People Burn Themselves to DeathKent Sepkowitz
December 12, 2012
Kent Sepkowitz looks at the centuries-long practice of self-immolation—and why it persists from India to Vietnam to Iran.
Tibet, Persecution, and Marital Shame: Why People Burn Themselves to DeathKent Sepkowitz
December 12, 2012
Self-immolation has been around for centuries, having been intermittently practiced by protesting monks in the East.
Tibet, Persecution, and Marital Shame: Why People Burn Themselves to DeathKent Sepkowitz
December 12, 2012
It was as dramatic and cringe-worthy a self-immolation as I've ever seen.
Daily Beast Contributors Weigh In on the GOP DebateNovember 12, 2011
Historical Examples
Self-immolation were easy in comparison with the infliction of one pang on her.
Evenings at Donaldson ManorMaria J. McIntosh
Even if this reads like slavery or self-immolation, what do you care?
The Eugenic Marriage, Vol. 3 (of 4)W. Grant Hague
He could but recognize a baleful nobility in her self-immolation.
The Confounding of CameliaAnne Douglas Sedgwick
The words fell chillingly on the blaze of her self-immolation.
SanctuaryEdith Wharton
These acts of self-immolation were esteemed exceedingly meritorious.
The Student's MythologyCatherine Ann White
self-immolation
- the act or an instance of setting fire to oneself
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for self-immolation
n.
also self immolation, 1817, from self- + immolation.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper