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View synonyms for slaughter
slaughter
1[ slaw-ter ]
noun
- the killing or butchering of cattle, sheep, etc., especially for food.
- the brutal or violent killing of a person.
Synonyms: murder
- the killing of great numbers of people or animals indiscriminately; carnage:
the slaughter of war.
verb (used with object)
- to kill or butcher (animals), especially for food.
- to kill in a brutal or violent manner.
- to slay in great numbers; massacre.
- Informal. to defeat thoroughly; trounce:
They slaughtered our team.
Slaughter
2[ slaw-ter ]
noun
- Frank, 1908–2001, U.S. novelist and physician.
slaughter
/ ˈslɔːtə /
noun
- the killing of animals, esp for food
- the savage killing of a person
- the indiscriminate or brutal killing of large numbers of people, as in war; massacre
- informal.a resounding defeat
verb
- to kill (animals), esp for food
- to kill in a brutal manner
- to kill indiscriminately or in large numbers
- informal.to defeat resoundingly
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Derived Forms
- ˈslaughterer, noun
- ˈslaughterous, adjective
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Other Words From
- slaughter·er noun
- slaughter·ing·ly adverb
- un·slaughtered adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of slaughter1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English slaghter, slahter, slauther (noun), from Old Norse slātr, earlier slāttr, slahtr
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Word History and Origins
Origin of slaughter1
Old English sleaht; related to Old Norse slāttar hammering, slātr butchered meat, Old High German slahta, Gothic slauhts, German Schlacht battle
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Idioms and Phrases
see like a lamb to the slaughter .Discover More
Synonym Study
Slaughter, butcher, massacre all imply violent and bloody methods of killing. Slaughter and butcher, primarily referring to the killing of animals for food, are used also of the brutal or indiscriminate killing of human beings: to slaughter cattle; to butcher a hog. Massacre indicates a general slaughtering of helpless or unresisting victims: to massacre the peasants of a region.
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Related Words
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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