near-death experience

English

Alternative forms

• near death experience

Etymology

Calque of French expérience de mort imminente, coined by Raymond Moody in 1975.

Noun

near-death experience (plural near-death experiences)

1. A sensation of detachment from one's body, the presence of a tunnel of light, the apparent viewing of one's own body from on high, and similar manifestations, experienced by people whose heart and brain have temporarily ceased to function.

   Synonym: NDE

   • 1995 November 26, Laura Mansnerus, quoting Timothy Leary, “At Death's Door, the Message Is Tune In, Turn On, Drop In”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Everybody has the same story of the near-death experience—my entire life flashed in front of me, the white light and all that—but no one really knows it.

Translations

experience by people whose heart and brain have temporarily ceased to function

• Danish: nærdødsoplevelse c
• Dutch: bijna-doodervaring (nl) f
• Finnish: kuolemanrajakokemus, rajakokemus
• French: expérience de mort imminente (fr) f
• German: Nahtod-Erfahrung, Nahtoderfahrung (de), Nahtodeserfahrung, Todesnähe-Erfahrung
• Hungarian: halálközeli élmény
• Japanese: 臨死体験 (りんしたいけん, rinshi-taiken)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nær døden-opplevelse m

• Swedish: näradödenupplevelse c