thanatopic

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek θάνατος (thánatos, “death”) + τοπικός (topikós, “Pertaining to a place or topic”).

Adjective

thanatopic (comparative more thanatopic, superlative most thanatopic)

1. Prone to thanatopsis; morbid.
   • 1987, Mark Albert Thorson, The Kernel Or the Mist: Story Against Discourse in Joseph Conrad, page IR-321:

     Conrad was always inclined to feel guilty about his thanatopic morbidity and anxious about its reception by an audience conceived of as an interminable succession of Bobrowskis.

   • 2003, Peter B. High, Professor David Bordwell, Vance Kepley, The Imperial Screen, page 29:

     Pictures of young lovers creeping up the slope arm-in-arm were published with syrupy thanatopic captions.

   • 2014, Derek Dalton, Dark Tourism and Crime, page 4:

     Seaton (1996) argues that dark tourism emerges from what he terms the 'thanatopic tradition' (i.e. the private contemplation of death in public places).

   • 2014, Ian Convery, Gerard Corsane, Peter Davis, Displaced Heritage: Responses to Disaster, Trauma, and Loss:

     Whether seen as a linear consequence to or a distinct postmodern divergence from thanatopic traditions, contemporary dark tourism has some relevance to present-day thanatopic behaviours – especially when located within a thesis of death sequestration and mediating mortality within contemporary society.

2. Deadly.
   • 1981, Annis Pratt, Barbara White, Andrea Loewenstein, Archetypal Patterns in Women's Fiction, page 24:

     Although drawn larger than life, Cather's mythological figure of Eros, with his accompanying thanatopic qualities, does not dwarf Alexandra: rather, he both complements and enhances her psyche as an expression of her desire for more than the patriarchy can offer.

   • 1996, Harper's - Volume 292, Issues 1748-1753:

     Thanatopic shuffleboard continues over to starboard; ominous little holes in the deck, bulkhead, railing, and even my little Astroturf square testify to my wisdom in having steered clear of the A.M. Darts Tourney.

   • 2015, Steven Trustrum, The Spellweaver Base Class, page 40:

     A thanatopic spellweave that would kill a living creature (such as by giving it negative levels equal to its Hit Dice) destroys an undead (though undead such as ghosts, liches, and vampires may reform as normal.)