meaningless existence; living in disgrace
Literary and rare. Contrasts with 玉砕 (ぎょくさい, 'honorable death') in the classical pair 玉砕瓦全: to die honorably rather than live on in shame. In modern Japanese, the word is almost never used outside this fixed contrast.
The phrase 玉砕瓦全 is known as a classical idiom expressing samurai ethics.