1. deaths of one million or more people, especially as a unit of measurement in discussing nuclear war or other catastrophic events
Usage: technical; often used in military or policy contexts

Examples

• Military strategists calculated potential megadeaths from a nuclear exchange.
• The study estimated that a global pandemic could result in several megadeaths.
• Cold War planners spoke grimly of scenarios involving multiple megadeaths.
• The term megadeaths was coined to quantify casualties on an unprecedented scale.
• Defense analysts used megadeaths as a metric in their worst-case projections.
• The report warned that climate disasters could eventually cause megadeaths worldwide.