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necrophilia

/ˈnɛkrəˌfɪliə/
/nɛkrəʊˈfilia/
IPA guide

Someone who is overly interested in dead bodies — even feeling an attraction toward them — suffers from necrophilia.

Use the noun necrophilia to describe a person's fascination with, and sexual attraction to, corpses. There is some evidence that members of the Moche civilization, in what is now Peru, believed that sex with dead bodies provided a spiritual connection with the deceased, but necrophilia has mostly been a rare and abnormal occurrence. The word comes from the Greek nekros, "death," and philia, "love or affection."

Definitions of necrophilia
  1. noun
    an irresistible sexual attraction to dead bodies
    see moresee less
    type of:
    cacoethes, mania, passion
    an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action
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