Kamikaze mission
Meaning
A task or undertaking that is almost certain to result in disaster, failure, or the self-destruction of the person or entity attempting it.
Origin
The phrase originates from World War II, specifically referring to the Japanese Special Attack Units. Faced with overwhelming Allied naval power, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched desperate, suicidal aerial attacks from October 1944. Pilots, flying aircraft often laden with explosives, deliberately crashed their planes into Allied warships. These pilots were called "Kamikaze," meaning "divine wind," a reference to typhoons that twice saved Japan from Mongol invasions in the 13th century. The sheer self-sacrificial nature of these attacks, designed to inflict maximum damage regardless of the pilot's survival, led to the adoption of "kamikaze mission" in English to describe any undertaking with a high probability of self-destructive failure.
Examples
- Sending the under-resourced team to compete against industry giants felt like a kamikaze mission.
- His attempt to expose the company's malpractices without any support turned into a kamikaze mission that cost him his job.