thanatolatry

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noun

The worship of death.

Scrabble 18

Meanings

nounthanatolatry (uncountable)
  1. uncountablelifestyleThe worship of death.

    They confuse Christianity with a thanatolatry and a dolorolatry, a worship of death and suffering.

    2000, William F. May, The Physician's Covenant: Images of the Healer in Medical Ethics (Medical), Westminster John Knox Press
    4 more examples

    What is going on here? Has not thanatolatry won the day—and the life? We must make an implied distinction between death as extermination, the stinging death of sin claiming worship dominative, demonic death, and death as, in McGill's words, “communicating expediture.”

    2013, Arthur C. McGill, Dying Unto Life: Arthur C. McGill on New God, New Death, New Life (Religion), Wipf and Stock Publishers

    This is thanatolatry, martyropathology or nihilism: when an entire society orients itself in this direction, that society is becoming suicidal.

    2006, Laurent Murawiec, “Deterring Those Who Are Already Dead?”, in Hudson Institute

    There is the negative thanatolatry of resisting death at all cost and so bowing before death's domination, before death as extermination.

    1984, David Cain, “Cambridge University Press”, in Cambridge

    Following Leo Alexander, Ernest Becker recognized the importance of the Nazi “philosophy of blood and soil which contained the belief that death nourishes life”. In effect, this ancient pagan belief converts death-anxiety into “thanatolatry”, a belief in “death potlatch” by means of which death is thought to mystically replenish life.

    2012, Kirby Farrell, “Eschatological Landscape”, in Research Gate, Brill

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

Translations

Czech thanatolatrie, uctívání smrti
  • thanatolatrieworship of death
  • uctívání smrtiworship of death
Greek θανατολατρία
  • θανατολατρία (thanatolatría)worship of death
Latin thanatolatria
  • thanatolatriaworship of death
Russian танатола́трия
  • танатола́трия (tanatolátrija)worship of death
Cite this entry
APA

thanatolatry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thanatolatry

MLA

“thanatolatry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thanatolatry. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thanatolatry,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thanatolatry.

Source: thanatolatry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.