Sentence:  Methods have been developed of assigning `` weights '' to statements ; that is , it is known empirically that names beginning with R are more common than those beginning with Z ; that fewer women are named Miranda than Elizabeth ; that in the United States more people <WSD>die</WSD> of heart disease than of smallpox . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life