thanatopsis

[than-uh-top-sis]

noun

a view or contemplation of death.

(initial capital letter, italics) a poem (1817) by William Cullen Bryant.

Origin of thanatopsis

thanat(o)- + -opsis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for thanatopsis

Historical Examples of thanatopsis

Do you think any city lad could have written "Thanatopsis" at eighteen?
Being a Boy
Charles Dudley Warner
And from Bryant the concluding familiar lines of Thanatopsis.
A History of American Literature
Percy H. Boynton
The importance of "Thanatopsis" is at once literary and historical.
The Scrap Book. Volume 1, No. 2
Various
He thought of "Thanatopsis," and of the "Elegy," both of which he admired greatly.
The "Genius"
Theodore Dreiser
When she attended her second meeting of the Thanatopsis she said nothing about remaking the town.
Main Street
Sinclair Lewis

British Dictionary definitions for thanatopsis

thanatopsis

noun

a meditation on death, as in a poem

Word Origin for thanatopsis

C19: from Greek thanatos death + opsis a view

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