fatal situation; in the midst of death
Almost exclusively used in the idiom 死中に活を求める (to seek life in the midst of death; to find a way out of a desperate situation). Rarely appears outside this fixed expression.
They carried out the dangerous operation, seeking a way out of a desperate situation.
The phrase 死中に活を求める is used in a hopeless situation.
finding a way out of a desperate situation; seeking life in the midst of death
Compound of 死 (death) and 中 (middle, midst). The exact historical derivation is uncertain; the word is preserved mainly through the classical idiom 死中に活を求める.