At Least 13 People Died by Suicide Amid U.K. Post Office Scandal, Report Says

Suicide is a verb and result by itself. Would the author also say “he died by murder”?

They are simplify avoiding using the word "committed" using a well accepted alternative because of the connotation with criminal behavior.

But no they would say "died by homicide" not "died by murder".

Would they not say "was killed" and so allow "killed himself/herself"?

This trend for commenting on news articles with nothing to say but a complaint about the wording of the headline is tedious. The right to free speech does not impose a responsibility to say something about everything you see.

Language evolves, like it or not.

In 2025 English, suicide is most commonly a noun.

Maybe "were driven to suicide by..." to properly describe the situation?

Your argument is that the wording of headlines is so meaningless as to always be beneath comment? Seems silly.

They have unalived themselves.

I think you're missing the point by a mile. The point isn't some tedious debate over grammar; it's about the choice of language that perpetuates the idea that suicide is a tragedy that happens passively 'to people' in some kind of tragic, medicalised, incomprehensible way which is severed from any socio-political context.

In this case, these people were driven to suicide. I would argue that those responsible for the Horizon scandal are guilty of at minimum manslaughter of these poor people.

> Suicide is a verb

No it isn’t. You can’t say “He suicided.”

It's a headline. It's not supposed to convey any nuance, it's just there to encourage you to read the article.

I agree that the wording isn't ideal, and I agree that the headline fails to capture the nuance of the circumstances that lead to suicide, but I disagree that subeditors who write headlines need to encapsulate that nuance. That's what the article is for.

There’s probably a near future where “unalived” becomes an unironic and accepted descriptor.

> Suicide is a verb

Not in English. Although it's a verb in many languages, which is why "he suicided" is a common ESL mistake.

Suicide has never been a verb in English in my 40 years on this earth. The OP claiming it is a verb is... really odd.