kamikaze

[ kah-mi-kah-zee ]

/ ˌkɑ mɪˈkɑ zi /

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noun

(during World War II) a member of a special corps in the Japanese air force charged with the suicidal mission of crashing an aircraft laden with explosives into an enemy target, especially a warship.

an airplane used for this purpose.

a person or thing that behaves in a wildly reckless or destructive manner: We were nearly run down by a kamikaze on a motorcycle.

adjective

of, pertaining to, undertaken by, or characteristic of a kamikaze: a kamikaze pilot; a kamikaze attack.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of kamikaze

1940–45; <Japanese, equivalent to kami(y) god (earlier *kamui) + kaze wind (earlier *kanzai

Words nearby kamikaze

Kamerun, Kamet, kami, Kamianske, kamik, kamikaze, Kamilaroi, Kamina, Kamloops, Kamloops trout, Kammerer

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use kamikaze in a sentence

The idea is that the drones carry explosive warheads for kamikaze attacks, making them into miniature cruise missiles.
The US Navy wants swarms of thousands of small drones|David Hambling|October 24, 2022|MIT Technology Review
Williams describes them as a “gabby seditious lot, in the worst of health but with kamikaze hearts, an army of the aged and ill, determined to refresh, through crackpot violence, a plundered earth.”
Joy Williams’s ‘Harrow’ Takes a Jab at Climate Activism|smurguia|December 14, 2021|Outside Online
Rubio blew it with immigration, and as for Cruz, I think even most Republicans see that that would be a kamikaze mission.
Christie and the 7 Dwarves|Michael Tomasky|February 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Expecting people to watch gay men not do that much for half an hour is oddly kamikaze television-making.
Yes, ‘Looking’ Is Boring. It’s the Drama Gays Deserve.|Tim Teeman|January 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The ship was hurried into action and survived multiple kamikaze attacks as well as being torpedoed.
U.S. Not Ready for Cyberwar Hostile Hackers Could Launch|Michael Daly|February 21, 2013|DAILY BEAST
One can only dream, then, of the kamikaze damage Newt can inflict if he keeps his promise to continue fighting to the convention.
Florida Primary: Why Liberals Should Cheer for Newt Gingrich|Michelle Goldberg|February 1, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Following the debate, the Romney campaign blasted Gingrich for his vengeful “kamikaze mission.”
‘Bad Newt’ Is Back at Sunday’s New Hampshire Debate|Kirsten Powers|January 8, 2012|DAILY BEAST
It had been kamikaze stuff, though there'd been a theoretical chance of the thirty men escaping, to justify sending them out.
A Matter of Proportion|Anne Walker
He had some of the characteristics of a kamikaze pilot, too, because there was no telling if he'd get back from his mission.
The Inhabited|Richard Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for kamikaze

kamikaze

/ (ˌkæmɪˈkɑːzɪ) /

noun (often capital)

(in World War II) one of a group of Japanese pilots who performed suicidal missions by crashing their aircraft, loaded with explosives, into an enemy target, esp a ship

an aircraft used for such a mission

(modifier) (of an action) undertaken or (of a person) undertaking an action in the knowledge that it will result in the death of the person performing it in order that maximum damage may be inflicted on an enemya kamikaze attack; a kamikaze bomber

(modifier) extremely foolhardy and possibly self-defeatingkamikaze pricing

Word Origin for kamikaze

C20: from Japanese, from kami divine + kaze wind, referring to the winds that, according to Japanese tradition, destroyed a Mongol invasion fleet in 1281

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for kamikaze

kamikaze

[ (kah-muh-kah-zee) ]

Japanese fighter pilots in World War II, trained to make suicide crashes into Allied ships.