suicide

«suicide» in Mova's school dictionary: The act of deliberately ending your own life — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (suicide; a suicide, suicides)

meaning for a pupil

1) The act of deliberately ending your own life. tree →

2) (figurative) An action that will very badly harm yourself or your own chances: «it would be political suicide». tree →

sense in the lessons

It is a very serious word. In health and safety lessons pupils learn that if someone feels like hurting themselves or ending their life, they must tell a trusted adult, and that help lines are always there for them. In the news it appears with information about where to get help. The figurative sense (career suicide, «suicide pass» in sport) means a choice that will cause harm to oneself. Phrases: «commit suicide» (older), «die by suicide» (preferred), «suicide prevention».

examples

• If you or a friend ever have thoughts of suicide, tell a trusted adult straight away. tree →
• Help lines are there for anyone thinking about suicide. tree →
• The school held a talk about mental health and suicide prevention. tree →
• (figurative) Playing football on that icy pitch would be suicide. tree →
• (figurative) Insulting the judges would be career suicide. tree →
• Talking about feelings can help keep people safe. tree →

note

Many people now say «died by suicide» instead of «committed suicide», because «commit» sounds like a crime. It is never a joke word. If someone talks about wanting to die, take it seriously and tell an adult; in an emergency call the emergency number (999 or 112 in the UK and Ireland, 911 in the USA and Canada, 000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand).

In the corpora

• "Took his own life" means killed himself; it is the gentle way to speak of suicide.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «suicide» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.