death wish

American  

noun

1. desire for one's own death or for the death of another.

2. Psychiatry. a suicidal desire, manifested by passivity, withdrawal, and absorption in nihilistic thoughts, that may eventually lead to suicidal behavior.

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death wish British  

noun

1. (in Freudian psychology) the desire for self-annihilation See also Thanatos

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Etymology

Origin of death wish

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

If Evy is virtually alone in a house where strange noises are occurring at all hours, what would possess her to put on noise-canceling headphones, other than a death wish?

From Salon • Mar. 15, 2026

Carter found that such high-sensation seekers are unequivocal on one point: they do not have a death wish.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

Some, like his biographer Ritz, saw it as the culmination of Gaye’s death wish and thought, “So that’s how he did it.”

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 20, 2025

An attack on him was a "death wish by the attacker" he said, and he thanked Congress for approving more money for the Secret Service.

From BBC • Sep. 25, 2024

Waking a nest full of pixies is a death wish.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff