karoshi

Definitions

Death, such as from heart attack or stroke, brought on by overwork or job-related stress.

uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“For a while he began to speak⟳ Japanese, rather slangy, never having seemed to learn⟳ it — karoshi for death from overwork, yakitaori-ya for eatery, and gaijin for clumsy foreigner.”

“Second, we discuss⟳ the problem of karoshi, which is unique to Japan. Karoshi has become⟳ an increasingly serious problem.”

“[…] I am a workaholic. […] The Japanese have⟳ a word for the problem: karōshi. It means “death from overwork.””

“In Japan there is a word for the consequences of extreme busyness: karoshi, which means 'death from overwork'. Karoshi happens when chronic fatigue, stemming from long hours and persistent stress⟳, leads to stroke and heart disease. For most of us, the results of a busyness-induced allostatic load⟳ are much less dramatic, but still pretty bad: being 'always on' has been linked to reductions in performance, reduced memory, and increased health risks of all kinds: cardiovascular disease, reduced immune system performance and an earlier death. One expert in the US approximated that 60-90 per cent of all visits to the doctor were stress⟳ related.”

“Since the 1980s, labor lawyers and citizens groups have⟳ been pushing for changes to the law to recognize karoshi as a serious social issue⟳.”

CEFR level