thanatology
noun
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In Greek mythology, Thanatos was the personification of death and the twin brother of Hypnos (Sleep). The ancient Greeks eventually came to use thanatos as a generic word for "death." Thanatology is a direct linguistic heir of the Greek term and was first documented in English in the mid-1800s. As a science, thanatology examines attitudes toward death, the meaning and behaviors of bereavement and grief, and other matters. In 1935, the word thanatos itself made its debut in English, ushered in with psychoanalytic theory to describe an unconscious tendency toward self-destruction.
Examples of thanatology in a Sentence
Erica Lamberg, USA TODAY, 25 Mar. 2020
Another thirty-five years passed before the paper was translated into English and published, in Omega, a journal of thanatology, by Russell Noyes, Jr., a psychiatrist at the University of Iowa.
—Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Thanatology.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thanatology. Accessed 7 May. 2025.
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thanatology
noun
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