What does "euthanize" mean?

To carry out euthanasia on (a person or animal).

How do you pronounce "euthanize"?

Pronounced //ˈjuː.θənˌaɪz//.

Common synonyms include: euthanatize, destroy, euthanasiate, euthanasiate, euthanatise, euthanatize.

//ˈjuː.θənˌaɪz// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To carry out euthanasia on (a person or animal). transitive
"John decided to euthanize his dying dog."
2
intentionally cause the painless death of a person or animal wordnet

"John decided to euthanize his dying dog."

Back-formation from euthanasia; 1970s.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.