near-death experience

English

Alternative forms

• near death experience

Etymology

Calque of French expérience de mort imminente, coined by Raymond Moody in 1975.

Pronunciation

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Noun

near-death experience (plural near-death experiences)

1. A sensation of detachment from one's body, the presence of a tunnel of light, the apparent viewing of one's own body from on high, and similar manifestations, experienced by people whose heart and brain have temporarily ceased to function.

   Synonym: NDE

   • 1995 November 26, Laura Mansnerus, quoting Timothy Leary, “At Death's Door, the Message Is Tune In, Turn On, Drop In”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Everybody has the same story of the near-death experience—my entire life flashed in front of me, the white light and all that—but no one really knows it.

Related terms

• NDEer

Translations

experience by people whose heart and brain have temporarily ceased to function

• Danish: nærdødsoplevelse c
• Dutch: bijna-doodervaring (nl) f
• Finnish: kuolemanrajakokemus, rajakokemus
• French: expérience de mort imminente (fr) f
• German: Nahtod-Erfahrung, Nahtoderfahrung (de), Nahtodeserfahrung, Todesnähe-Erfahrung
• Hungarian: halálközeli élmény
• Japanese: 臨死体験 (りんしたいけん, rinshi-taiken)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nær døden-opplevelse m

• Polish: otarcie się o śmierć n
• Portuguese: experiência de quase-morte f
• Swedish: näradödenupplevelse c