Darwin Award
Lethal idiocy prize
A Darwin Award is a dark-humored recognition for someone who dies or sterilizes themselves through spectacular stupidity, thus removing their genes from the human gene pool.
Named after Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, the awards celebrate fatal or reproductive mishaps caused by breathtaking lack of judgment: He earned a Darwin Award when he tried to open a grenade with a hammer.
The term originated online in the 1990s and spread widely as a way to mock preventable deaths.
Unwise conduct
- recklessnessCareless disregard for danger
- idiocyExtreme mental deficiency
- incompetenceLack of required skill
- senselessnessAbsence of reason or purpose
imprudence · irrationality · cluelessness · thoughtlessness · poor judgment · boneheaded · harebrained · ill-conceived
Cessation of life
- demiseCessation of existence
- lethalCausing or capable of death
- fatalityDeath from accident
- mortalityState of eventual death
self-inflicted · accidental death · posthumous · deceased · perished · casualty · deadly · terminal
Mockery exposing vice
- mockeryScornful ridicule or travesty
- gallows humorJoking about grim subjects
- schadenfreudeDelight in others' misfortune
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
ridicule · parody · wit · black comedy · sardonic · cynicism · tragicomedy · absurdist
Showing poor judgment
- dangerousApt to cause harm
- foolhardyRecklessly bold
- daredevilReckless risk-taker
- risk-takingAccepting possible harm
bravado · hubris · overconfidence · impulsive · hasty · unwise · preventable · avoidable
Species changing over generations
- survival of the fittestAdaptive advantage perpetuates species
- gene poolSpecies' total genetic diversity
- extinctionComplete vanishing of a species
- heredityGenetic trait transmission
reproduction · unfit · genetic dead end · breeding · offspring · procreation · unfitness
foolishness
Unwise conduct
- recklessnessCareless disregard for danger
- idiocyExtreme mental deficiency
- incompetenceLack of required skill
senselessness · imprudence · irrationality · cluelessness · thoughtlessness · poor judgment · boneheaded · harebrained · ill-conceived · dimwitted
death
Cessation of life
mortality · self-inflicted · accidental death · posthumous · deceased · perished · casualty · deadly · terminal · killed
satire
Mockery exposing vice
- mockeryScornful ridicule or travesty
- gallows humorJoking about grim subjects
- schadenfreudeDelight in others' misfortune
irony · ridicule · parody · wit · black comedy · sardonic · cynicism · tragicomedy · absurdist · grotesque
ill-advised
Showing poor judgment
risk-taking · bravado · hubris · overconfidence · impulsive · hasty · unwise · preventable · avoidable · safety violation
evolution
Species changing over generations
- survival of the fittestAdaptive advantage perpetuates species
- gene poolSpecies' total genetic diversity
- extinctionComplete vanishing of a species
heredity · reproduction · unfit · genetic dead end · breeding · offspring · procreation · unfitness
- Dubious Honorsbooby prize, wooden spoon, participation trophy, consolation prize, dunce cap
Darwin Awardreproductive success
Offspring contribution to future generations
Darwin AwardNobel Prize
Highest academic honor
lifetime achievement award · Medal of Honor · Pulitzer Prize · Rhodes Scholarship · knighthood
Darwin Awardmiraculous survival
Escaping death unexpectedly
survivor · lucky escape · narrow escape · cheating death · near miss
Darwin, award, awards, awarded, awarding, Darwinian, Darwinism, Darwinist