Meanings
- uncountablehuman sciencesThe belief that death is natural, inevitable, or desirable.
Religions may be the purest offspring of deathism. Most religions promise rewards in heaven or punishments in hell […]
1999, Bart Kosko, The Fuzzy Future: From Society and Science to Heaven in a Chip, page 2472 more examples
There is no joy of any kind in what I describe as the deathism paradigm they follow, other than whatever feelings of effectiveness may be derived from killing the infidel and in fulfilling the personal death wish of religious martyrdom.
2010, Robert J. Pellegrini, Identities for Life and Death, page 248For this growing set, the idea that we might have a fixed, natural lifespan is pure defeatism—“deathism” even, a spell from which we must awaken to realise our full potential.
2025 October 25, Stephen Cave, “Threescore and many more”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9
Origin
Translations
French mortisme
- mortismethe death philosophy
German Todismus
- Todismusthe death philosophy
Cite this entry
deathism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deathism
“deathism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deathism. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “deathism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deathism.
Source: deathism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.