as in self-annihilation
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Recent Examples of self-immolation
Later, when Doyle comes into some mysterious bags of cash, and heads toward the mainland with a bottle of booze, a boat, and one last chance to go out in a blaze of self-immolation, Farrell manages to mix dread and adrenaline into every silent expression.
—
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2025
But history shows that unexpected internal sparks—a natural disaster, a fruit vendor’s self-immolation, a young woman killed for showing too much hair—can prove just as consequential.
—Karim Sadjadpour, Foreign Affairs, 14 Oct. 2025
In late 2010, Facebook became revered as the gold standard of revolutionary organizing, sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia.
—Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025
The two spend a night together by the shore, and Doyle awakens with numbers penned on his palm: a test of character that raises his already bombastic redemption/self-immolation several notches higher.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 31 Aug. 2025
During a brief period following the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when China further opened its doors to the outside world, Tibet was rocked by protests by monks and nuns, and then a series of self-immolations.
—Reuters, NBC news, 20 Aug. 2025
Snyder’s origin story introduces Kal-el and Krypton’s most fascist generals (led by Michael Shannon’s explosive General Zod) as the only survivors of their advanced world’s self-immolation.
—Rory Doherty, Vulture, 11 July 2025
But also, there’s a hunger for leadership in opposition to this administration, and the Democrats are losing an opportunity to be those leaders with their endless self-immolation.
—Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2025
According to Hindu mythology, the Hinglaj Devi temple is one of the sites where the remains of Sati, a goddess of marital devotion and longevity, fell to earth after her self-immolation.
—Zia Ur-Rehman Asim Hafeez, New York Times, 30 May 2025
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2025
But history shows that unexpected internal sparks—a natural disaster, a fruit vendor’s self-immolation, a young woman killed for showing too much hair—can prove just as consequential.
—Karim Sadjadpour, Foreign Affairs, 14 Oct. 2025
In late 2010, Facebook became revered as the gold standard of revolutionary organizing, sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia.
—Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025
The two spend a night together by the shore, and Doyle awakens with numbers penned on his palm: a test of character that raises his already bombastic redemption/self-immolation several notches higher.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 31 Aug. 2025
During a brief period following the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when China further opened its doors to the outside world, Tibet was rocked by protests by monks and nuns, and then a series of self-immolations.
—Reuters, NBC news, 20 Aug. 2025
Snyder’s origin story introduces Kal-el and Krypton’s most fascist generals (led by Michael Shannon’s explosive General Zod) as the only survivors of their advanced world’s self-immolation.
—Rory Doherty, Vulture, 11 July 2025
But also, there’s a hunger for leadership in opposition to this administration, and the Democrats are losing an opportunity to be those leaders with their endless self-immolation.
—Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2025
According to Hindu mythology, the Hinglaj Devi temple is one of the sites where the remains of Sati, a goddess of marital devotion and longevity, fell to earth after her self-immolation.
—Zia Ur-Rehman Asim Hafeez, New York Times, 30 May 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-immolation
Noun
-
The will toward self-annihilation is a familiar human characteristic.—
Henry Freedland,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
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Her self-annihilation is grisly and impossible to misinterpret as a final repudiation of her role in the HMS Courageous bombing and, until Grace announces she’d like Hal to be her vice-president, is the most intense and far-reaching twist of the episode.—
Sophie Brookover,
Vulture,
16 Oct. 2025
Noun
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At the same time, invisibility has come as a relief, insofar as my vanity always kept company with self-consciousness and self-flagellation.—
Lucinda Rosenfeld,
New Yorker,
25 Oct. 2025
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The technique was initially practiced alone, but in 1260 a hermit in Perugia launched a movement, and organized processions of mass self-flagellation broke out across Italy.—
Michael Robbins,
Harpers Magazine,
20 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Self-immolation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-immolation. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
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