Euthanasia

//juː.θəˈneɪ.zi.ə// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The practice of intentionally killing a human being or animal in a humane way, especially in order to end suffering. uncountable, usually

    "Euthanasia is the most difficult part of a veterinarian's job."

  2. 2
    the act of killing someone painlessly (especially someone suffering from an incurable illness) wordnet
  3. 3
    The practice of killing a human being who is considered a liability to society, especially a disabled person. Nazism, especially, euphemistic, uncountable, usually

    "Nevertheless, as Henry Friedlander pointed out years ago, it was not Jews but mentally and physically disabled people who became targets of the first large-scale, systematic killings in Nazi Germany, under the euphemistically labelled “Euthanasia Program.”"

  4. 4
    An easy death, or the means to bring about such a death. obsolete, uncountable, usually

    "It would in time, it is to be hoped, effect a quiet euthanasia of the heresies of bigotry and fanaticism which have so long triumphed over human reason, and so generally and deeply afflicted mankind; but this work is to be begun by winnowing the grain from the chaff of the historians of his life."

Etymology

First attested in 1606, from Ancient Greek εὐθανασία (euthanasía), from εὐ- (eu-, “good”) + θάνατος (thánatos, “death”)

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