thanatology
[than-uh-tol-uh-jee]
- the study of death and its surrounding circumstances, as in forensic medicine.
- Psychiatry. the study of the effects of death and dying, especially the investigation of ways to lessen the suffering and address the needs of the terminally ill and their survivors.
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Origin of thanatology
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
thanatology
- the scientific study of death and the phenomena and practices relating to it
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Word Origin
C19: from Greek thanatos death + -logy
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for thanatology
n.
"scientific study of death," 1842, from Greek thanatos "death" (from PIE *dhwene- "to disappear, die," perhaps from root meaning "dark, cloudy") + -logy. Thanatism (1900) is the belief that at death the soul ceases to exist. Hence also thanatos. In 1970s, some undertakers made a bid to be called thanatologists; but from 1974 that word was used in reference to specialists in the needs of the terminally ill.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
thanatology
(thăn′ə-tŏl′ə-jē)- The study of death and dying, especially of their psychological and social aspects.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.