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Different cell death types are defined by morphological criteria, without a clear reference to precise biochemical mechanisms. The Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) proposes unified criteria for the definition of cell death and of different cell death morphologies, while formulating several caveats against the misuse of words and concepts that slow down progress in the area of cell death research. Nomenclature must be open to improvements and amendments to entail new discoveries, and the NCCD will help to update and clarify these points. Authors, reviewers and Editors of scientific periodicals are invited to abandon expressions like ‘percentage apoptosis’ and to replace them by more precise descriptions of the parameters that are actually measured. Moreover, at the present stage, it should be accepted that ‘apoptosis’, as a form of cell death, can occur with or without, caspase activation and that …