Word of the Day
4 March 2026
suicide battery
A battery whose purpose is, in addition to powering an electronic device, making the powered device permanently unusable once the energy is exhausted.
Why this one
The name is blunt about the design intent: the cell is not meant to be swapped, so its death is the product's death. It shows up where single use is the point, and it is the reason a working device can be scrap the moment the charge is gone.
In use
Don't bother sourcing cells for those units, it's a suicide battery, once it's flat the whole thing goes in the bin.
Written by our editors to show how the term is used, not a recorded quotation.