kamikaze

1 of 2

noun

ka·mi·ka·ze ˌkä-mi-ˈkä-zē

: a member of a Japanese air attack corps in World War II assigned to make a suicidal crash on a target (such as a ship)

: an airplane containing explosives to be flown in a suicide crash on a target

kamikaze

2 of 2

adjective

: of, relating to, or resembling a kamikaze

: having or showing reckless disregard for safety or personal welfare

Did you know?

In 1274 and 1281 Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor of China, sent out great fleets to conquer Japan. Providential storms dispersed the fleets on both occasions and reinforced the Japanese belief that their gods would forever protect them. To the Japanese this salvation was kamikaze, “divine wind.” In World War II Japanese pilots who were willing to give up their lives to help save their country by destroying American ships were the members of a special corps named kamikaze after the storm that had saved Japan seven centuries earlier.

Examples of kamikaze in a Sentence

Adjective a bike messenger who regularly cuts across busy city streets with a kamikaze boldness

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Noun

Dominator is a long-range kamikaze drone that's one of at least four systems in the Phoenix Ghost fa... —

Jeremy Bogaisky, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2024 Similar to a kamikaze drone, the Peklo missile has a small warhead, but can fly faster than typical drones, which only travel at 150-200 kph. —

Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024

Adjective

Some took the news as an occasion for some kamikaze-style trolling. —

Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2022 Models such as the Iranian Shahed-136, which Russia bought by the planeload, are capable of one-way, kamikaze-style attacks. —

Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 13 Oct. 2022 See all Example Sentences for kamikaze