self-annihilationn.
/ˌsɛlfəˌnʌɪəˈleɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌsɛlfəˌnaɪəˈleɪʃ(ə)n/ The action or fact of annihilating or destroying oneself or one's own life, spec. suicide; annihilation which something brings upon itself. Also: the process or fact of annihilating or eliminating one's sense of self or individual identity, esp. in pursuit of spiritual perfection or mystical enlightenment.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > morally elevated quality > unselfishness > [noun] > self-denial > self-renunciation or abnegation
abnegation1623
self-annihilation1641
self-abnegation1647
self-renunciation1654
self-abandonment1777
self-renouncement1821
1641 N. Homes New World 15 God hath stampt on nature a generall abhorring of vacuum, of a voyde place..(for that would..cause a selfe annihilation of nature more or lesse).
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Evangelists & Acts (Matt. xix. 17) 481 Here then our Saviour learns this yonker, humility, and self-annihilation.
1713 J. Addison in Guardian 5 Sept. 1/1 To sink the Soul into the lowest State of Humility, and what the School-men call Self Annihilation.
1792 M. Robinson Vancenza (Dublin ed.) xix. 215 Frenzy now seizing on my tormented brain, suggested the foul crime of self-annihilation.
a1857 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics (1860) I. 119 The mystical death, self-annihilation, and holy indifference of the Quietists.
1941 K. Shridharani My India, my Amer. xi. 345 What is this I hear about nirvana? If the soul seeks self-annihilation, then how can man have hope?
1972 Family Coordinator 21 71/1 The present rate..means that about 56 individuals commit suicide daily and that more than 20,000 reported acts of self-annihilation occur each year.
2008 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 3 Jan. e4 The truly out-of-control suicidal pop star..hurtles senselessly, unstoppably, toward self-annihilation.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1641