TOP

Definition of suicide noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

suicide

noun
 
 
/ˈsuːɪsaɪd/
 
/ˈsuːɪsaɪd/
jump to other results
  1.  
    [uncountable, countable] the act of killing yourself deliberately
    • to commit suicide
    • an attempted suicide (= one in which the person survives)
    • a suicide bomber (= who expects to die while trying to kill other people with a bomb)
    Although ‘commit suicide’ is a common collocation, many people prefer not to use this phrase as it suggests that suicide is a crime (because ‘commit’ usually collocates with words such as ‘crime’, ‘offence’, ‘sin’, and ‘murder’). You can say somebody takes their own life or that somebody dies by suicide instead. see also assisted suicide
    Extra Examples
    • Her death was ruled an apparent suicide.
    • Members of the sect committed mass suicide.
    • He slashed his wrists in a failed suicide attempt.
    • He was put on suicide watch earlier in his prison term.
    • There is no evidence that he is a suicide risk.
    • a suicide bomb attack on a military convoy
    • the questions surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide
    • the ritual suicide of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre
    Topics Crime and punishmentc1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • attempted
    • collective
    • double
    • …
    verb + suicide
    • commit
    • attempt
    • consider
    • …
    suicide + noun
    • risk
    • threat
    • attempt
    • …
    See full entry
  2.  
    [uncountable] a course of action that is likely to destroy your career, position in society, etc.
    • It would have been political suicide for him to challenge the allegations in court.
    Extra Examples
    • That's asking them to commit career suicide.
    • Wearing shoes like that would be social suicide.
  3. [countable] (formal) a person who commits suicide
    4. Word Originmid 17th cent.: from modern Latin suicida ‘act of suicide’, suicidium ‘person who commits suicide’, from Latin sui ‘of oneself’ + caedere ‘kill’.
See suicide in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee suicide in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
Check pronunciation: suicide

Nearby words

trait
noun
 
 
From the Word list
Oxford 5000
B2
Oxford Learner's Dictionaries Word of the Day