death wish
Share:
Tweet n. 1. Psychiatry a. A desire for self-destruction, often accompanied by feelings of depression, hopelessness, and self-reproach. b. The desire, often unconscious, for the death of another person, such as a parent, toward whom one has unconscious hostility. 2. A suicidal urge thought to drive certain people to put themselves consistently into dangerous situations. [Translation of German Todeswunsch.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.