carnage

[ kahr-nij ]
See synonyms for carnage on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the slaughter of a great number of people, as in battle; butchery; massacre.

  2. fighting or other violence: brutal carnage on the football field.

  1. great damage, utter defeat, or chaos:We are charting a way forward after the Election Day carnage.

  2. Archaic. dead bodies, as of those slain in battle.

Origin of carnage

1
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Middle French, from Italian carnaggio, from Medieval Latin carnāticum “payment or offering in meat,” equivalent to Latin carn- (stem of carō ) “flesh” + -āticum noun sufffix; see -age

Words Nearby carnage

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use carnage in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for carnage

carnage

/ (ˈkɑːnɪdʒ) /


noun
  1. extensive slaughter, esp of human beings in battle

Origin of carnage

1
C16: from French, from Italian carnaggio, from Medieval Latin carnāticum, from Latin carō flesh

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012