Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
alt. euthanasia. n. euthanasia.
WordNet
n. the act of killing someone painlessly (especially someone suffering from an incurable illness) [syn: euthanasia]
Usage examples of "mercy killing".
Murder or mercy killing or accident, in an indirect way it helped rid the country of its dictator.
So he'd bargained with Artemis for more time for Zarek to prove to the goddess that he wasn't some rabid animal in need of a mercy killing.
I told Jerry about what Rhonda had told me about McNair's galloping cancer and her mercy killing, but how McNair's close student Samantha had been certain that he had nothing of the sort.
Sometimes Roy was surprised that he could be around Dubois for long periods, yet resist the urge to commit a mercy killing.
The laws of God and the Church make no provision for mercy killing.
And the frail old headshrinker had been trying to get up the guts for a mercy killing ever since.