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suicidal ideation

American  
[soo-uh-sahyd-uhl ahy-dee-ay-shuhn] / ˌsu əˈsaɪd əl ˌaɪ diˈeɪ ʃən /

noun

suicidal ideations plural
  1. Psychiatry. persistent thoughts about killing oneself, wishing to die, or wanting to stop existing, often resulting from a mental health condition or stressful life events.


Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

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.

Black women have also historically reported suicidal ideation during the postpartum period at a rate roughly double that of white women.

From Salon • Apr. 21, 2026

A 2009 study in the American Journal of Public Health found that among immigrants who came from Mexico to the U.S. as teenagers, just 2.3% reported suicidal ideation, compared with 8.9% of their American-born peers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025

With clinical depression, you have five or more symptoms, like low appetite, change in appetite, poor sleep, low energy, feeling restless, guilt, hopelessness, suicidal ideation.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2025

Researchers at Kaiser Permanente talked to some of them and they “were either not experiencing suicidal ideation at the time of screening or feared the outcome of disclosure, including stigma, overreaction, and loss of autonomy.”

From Slate • May 20, 2024

The researchers distilled 1.6 million medical records into two similar groups of nearly 28,000 people and reported that 0.13% of those prescribed semaglutide reporting suicidal ideation versus 0.36% of those prescribed other antidiabetes drugs.

From Science Magazine • Jan. 5, 2024

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