Thanatopraxis
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Funeral rites; death rituals or practices. uncommon, uncountable, usually
"[I]t is the English version of Western death that seems to be spreading more widely[…], both in the thanatopraxis of cremation which is spreading even in Portugal with the blessing of the Catholic Church and in the cultural ideals of dying […] In the 'symbolic' perspective one studies death through the prism of cosmology and community, collective and individual representations, mortuary rites, the cultural regulation of the emotions, thanatopraxis, mourning customs, the iconology of death."
Example
More examples"[I]t is the English version of Western death that seems to be spreading more widely[…], both in the thanatopraxis of cremation which is spreading even in Portugal with the blessing of the Catholic Church and in the cultural ideals of dying […] In the 'symbolic' perspective one studies death through the prism of cosmology and community, collective and individual representations, mortuary rites, the cultural regulation of the emotions, thanatopraxis, mourning customs, the iconology of death."
Etymology
From thanato- + -praxis, chiefly as a calque of French thanatopraxie. Doublet of thanatopraxy.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.