suicide pact
6
7.9
- noun
- /ˈsuːɪˌsaɪd pækt/
- NSFW
:
pacto suicida
- Friends speculate that the accident may have been the product of a suicide pact.
Especially our Second Amendment, which he calls a suicide pact.
- Especially our Second Amendment, which he calls a suicide pact.
Examples
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Was it a suicide pact?
Fiction book (1999) -
We're no part of any suicide pact!
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- Why are we all planning a suicide pact?
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- This is a suicide pact.
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How about a suicide pact?
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None of us wants to sign a suicide pact.
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I think she had a suicide pact.
Blog text (33) -
Sounds like a suicide pact.
Blog text (10) -
Talk about your suicide pacts, huh?
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The two teenagers made a suicide pact to end their suffering together if things didn't improve.
Surface Forms
Morphology
suicide + pact
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'suicide' (deliberate self-killing) + 'pact' (an agreement): it straightforwardly denotes an agreement to commit suicide together. This noun+noun combination follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern for labeling types of agreements, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Suicide pact brings together suicide (a person killing themselves) and pact (a serious promise). Imagine two or more people making a solemn agreement to die together at the same time and place; that strong image explains why the phrase means 'an agreement between people to kill themselves together'.