Death is the permanent cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include biological aging (senescence), predation, malnutrition, disease, suicide, murder and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death.
In human societies, the nature of death has for millennia been a concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical inquiry. This may include a belief in some kind of resurrection (associated with Abrahamic religions), reincarnation (associated with Dharmic religions), or that consciousness permanently ceases to exist, known as oblivion (associated with atheism).
The response after death includes various feelings of grief or emotional suffering one feels when something or someone the individual loves is taken away. Commemoration ceremonies after death may include various mourning or funereal practices. The physical remains of a person, commonly known as a corpse or body, are usually interred whole or cremated, though among the world's cultures there are a variety of other methods of mortuary disposal. In the English language, blessings directed towards a deceased person include rest in peace, or its initials RIP.
The most common cause of human deaths in the world is heart disease, followed by stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases, and on the third place lower respiratory infections.
Read more about Death: Etymology, Associated Terms, Senescence, Signs of Death, Causes, Life Extension, Location, Society and Culture, Death and Consciousness, In Biology
Other articles related to "death":
... On April 25, a response to Komarov's death by his fellow cosmonauts was published in Pravda "For the forerunners it is always more difficult ... by the cosmonaut corps and that Komarov's death should teach the establishment to be more rigorous in its testing and evaluation of "all the mechanisms of the spaceship, even more attentive to all stages ... His flight and his death will teach us courage." In May 1967, Gagarin and Leonov criticised Mishin's "poor knowledge of the Soyuz spacecraft and the details of its operation, his lack of cooperation in ...
... Snowden's death embodies Yossarian's desire to evade death by seeing Snowden's entrails spilling over the plane, he feels that "Man was matter, that was Snowden's secret ... he simply "doesn't want to," perhaps because he was traumatized and depressed by Snowden's death ...
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... It has been claimed that the Vatican altered some of the details of the discovery of the death to avoid possible unseemliness in that he was discovered by ... Yet this, along with inconsistent statements made following the Pope's death, led to a number of conspiracy theories concerning it ...
... of the Latin atra mors (terrible, or black, death) had occurred in Scandinavia when he described the catastrophe in 1832 in his publication "Der ... happening at that time, "The Black Death in the 14th century" gained widespread attention and the terms Schwarzer Tod and Black Death became more widely used in the German- and English-speaking worlds, respectively ...
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“... the heart monitor,
the death cricket bleeping.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Disease generally begins that equality which death completes.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“Every American, to the last man, lays claim to a “sense” of humor and guards it as his most significant spiritual trait, yet rejects humor as a contaminating element wherever found. America is a nation of comics and comedians; nevertheless, humor has no stature and is accepted only after the death of the perpetrator.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)