An unwarranted and morbid dread of death or of dying: People afflicted with thanatophobia are afraid to use the normal expressions of "death", "dying", or "died", so they use such euphemisms as "passing on", "passing away", or even "going to one's reward".

There are also those who have a dread regarding the act of deceasing because it is the ultimate unknown factor or because a loved one will be missed very much.

It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens.

—Woody Allen, American film maker

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We all labor against our own cure,
even though death is the cure of all diseases.

—Thomas Browne