massacre

1 of 2

noun

mas·​sa·​cre ˈma-si-kər 

1

: the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty

witnessed the massacre of a boatload of refugees

2

: a cruel or wanton (see wanton entry 1 sense 1a) murder

3

: a wholesale slaughter of animals

Residents engaged in a citywide cat massacre.

4

: an act of complete destruction

the author's massacre of traditional federalist presuppositions

—R. G. McCloskey

the Puritan massacre of statues and pictures

—Robert Hughes

massacre

2 of 2

verb

massacred; massacring ˈma-si-k(ə-)riŋ 

transitive verb

1

: to kill by massacre

2

: mangle sense 2

words were misspelled and syntax massacred

—Bice Clemow

massacrer

ˈma-si-kər-ər 

-krər

noun

Synonyms

Noun

• bloodbath
• butchery
• carnage
• death
• holocaust
• slaughter

Verb

• butcher
• mow (down)
• slaughter

Examples of massacre in a Sentence

Noun

The game turned out to be a complete massacre.

the infamous massacre of more than 200 Sioux at Wounded Knee, South Dakota

Verb

Hundreds have been massacred in the uprising.

The other team really massacred us on Saturday.

He really massacred that song.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Jones’s site was put up for sale as part of his bankruptcy case in the wake of the nearly $1.5 billion that courts ordered Jones to pay families tied to the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings for falsely calling the massacre a hoax. —Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 11 Dec. 2024

Last month, The Onion won the bidding for Infowars, which has been forced to sell its assets after a $1.4 billion defamation judgment in favor of the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting massacre. —Ted Johnson, Deadline, 11 Dec. 2024

Verb

Having them in a memorial site honoring the people massacred is the right decision to make. —Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Nov. 2024

Iran funds Hamas, the terrorist group that invaded and brutally massacred innocent Israelis, mostly youth, in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. —Diane Gensler, Baltimore Sun, 20 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle French

First Known Use

Noun

circa 1578, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1581, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

massacre

1 of 2 verb

mas·​sa·​cre ˈmas-i-kər 

massacred; massacring

-k(ə-)riŋ

: to kill in a massacre : slaughter

massacrer

-i-kər-ər

-i-krər

noun

massacre

2 of 2 noun

: the violent and cruel killing of a number of persons