near-death experience

• near death experience

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

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, →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.