1. A Japanese pilot trained in World War II to make a suicidal crash attack, especially upon a ship.
2. An airplane loaded with explosives to be piloted in a suicide attack.
3. Slang. An extremely reckless person who seems to court death.

1. Of or relating to a suicidal air attack: a kamikaze mission.
2. Slang. So reckless in behavior or actions as to be suicidal: kamikaze hot rodders.

[Japanese, divine wind (from the legendary name of a typhoon that in 1281 saved Japan by destroying the Mongol navy) : kami, divine + kaze, wind.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.