thanatopraxis

thanatopraxis noun: funeral rites; death rituals or practices.

Noun

thanatopraxis (usually uncountable)

(uncommon, usually) Funeral rites; death rituals or practices.
- [I]t is the English version of Western death that seems to be spreading more widely[…], both in the thanatopraxis of cremation which is spreading even in Portugal with the blessing of the Catholic Church and in the cultural ideals of dying […] In the 'symbolic' perspective one studies death through...1983, Herminio Martins, “Introduction: Tristes Durées”, in Rui Feijó, Herminio Martins, João de Pina-Cabral, editors, Death in Portugal: Studies in Portuguese Anthropology and Modern History (JASO...
- Le travail de deuil, est-ce un travail, une espèce de travail? Et la thanatopraxie, technique de la pompe funèbre aujourd’hui enseignée dans des instituts, donnant lieu à des diplômes de qualification, la limiterat-on à une corporation parmi d’autres, à l’intérieur d’une économie sociale?1986 [1974], Jacques Derrida, translated by John P. Leavey, Jr. and Richard Rand, Glas, Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, published 1990 (1st paperback printing), →ISBN, page 86, column 2

This notion, of course, is widespread and by no means specific to the Chinese syndrome of beliefs and thanatopraxis.1988, Stuart E. Thompson, “Death, Food, and Fertility”, in James L. Watson, Evelyn S[akakida] Rawski, editors, Death Ritual in Late...
My description of thanatopraxis comes from this book.1992 [1981], Roger Bartra, translated by Claire Joysmith, The Imaginary Networks of Political Power, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers...
The funeral parlor sent a specialist trained at the French Institute of Thanatopraxis to prepare the body for burial, with the usual arranging of the face and body to best advantage.1997 [1994], Élisabeth Roudinesco, translated by Barbara Bray, “Tomb for a Pharaoh”, in Jacques Lacan (European Perspectives), New York...
There is nothing, absolutely nothing, in the conceptual apparatus of contemporary thanatocrats to exclude the arrival of a thanatopraxis similar to that practiced by Nazi barbarity.2005, Véronique Campion-Vincent, quoting Jean Ziegler (Les vivants et la mort), “Facts and the Legend”, in Organ Theft Legends, Jackson...

From thanato- + -praxis, chiefly as a calque of French thanatopraxie. Doublet of thanatopraxy.

What does thanatopraxis mean?: Thanatopraxis means funeral rites; death rituals or practices.
How do you use thanatopraxis in a sentence?: This notion, of course, is widespread and by no means specific to the Chinese syndrome of beliefs and thanatopraxis.
What part of speech is thanatopraxis?: Thanatopraxis is a noun.

Adapted from Wiktionary: thanatopraxis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “thanatopraxis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thanatopraxis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.