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 ... about the Soyuz module that were identified by the cosmonaut corps and that Komarov's death should teach the establishment to be more rigorous in its ... 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 working ...
... The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350 ... Although there were several competing theories as to the etiology of the Black Death, recent analysis of DNA from victims in northern and southern Europe indicates that the pathogen ... The Black Death is thought to have started in China or central Asia, before spreading west ...
... 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 ... to," perhaps because he was traumatized and depressed by Snowden's death ...
... 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 Sister Vincenza, a nun ... 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 schwarze Tod im vierzehnten Jahrhundert" ... and with the cholera epidemic 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 ...
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Oh, you cold-blooded English. You’ll be the death of me.”
—Norman Reilly Raine (1895–1971)
“You listen to artists fighting with each other, competing to the death like gladiators, in order to see who is going to get into a show, who is going to make it, who isn’t: who is going to get a full-page ad and who is going to get a half-page. Then I think, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go off somewhere and just do your work?””
—Howardena Pindell (b. 1943)
“O Lord, methought what pain it was to drown,
What dreadful noise of waters in my ears!
What sights of ugly death within my eyes!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)