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murder
[ mur-der ]
noun
- Law. the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson first-degree murder, ormurder one, and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation second-degree murder, ormurder two.
- Slang. something extremely difficult or perilous:
That final exam was murder!
- a group or flock of crows.
verb (used with object)
- Law. to kill by an act constituting murder.
- to kill or slaughter inhumanly or barbarously.
- to spoil or mar by bad performance, representation, pronunciation, etc.:
The tenor murdered the aria.
verb (used without object)
- to commit murder.
murder
/ ˈmɜːdə /
noun
- See homicide, manslaughterthe unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another Compare manslaughter homicide
- informal.something dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant
driving around London is murder
- cry blue murder informal.cry blue murder to make an outcry
- get away with murder informal.get away with murder to escape censure; do as one pleases
verb
- also intr to kill (someone) unlawfully with premeditation or during the commission of a crime
- to kill brutally
- informal.to destroy; ruin
he murdered her chances of happiness
- informal.to defeat completely; beat decisively
the home team murdered their opponents
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Derived Forms
- ˈmurderer, noun
- ˈmurderess, noun:feminine
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Other Words From
- self-murder noun
- self-murdered adjective
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of murder1
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Idioms and Phrases
- get away with murder, Informal. to engage in a deplorable activity without incurring harm or punishment:
The new baby-sitter lets the kids get away with murder.
- murder will out, a secret will eventually be exposed.
- yell / scream bloody murder,
- to scream loudly in pain, fear, etc.
- to protest loudly and angrily:
If I don't get a good raise I'm going to yell bloody murder.
More idioms and phrases containing murder
In addition to the idiom beginning with murder , also see get away with (murder) ; scream bloody murder .Discover More
Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
The website Murder Inna Dancehall catalogs 207 dancehall songs with violently anti-gay lyrics.
Murder, suicide, illness, old age: These deaths stalk us all, but in prison, they collect us so much more cheaply.
On rival CBS, which had been the original home of The Twilight Zone, the long running Murder, She Wrote premiered in 1984.
Murder, violent crime, unemployment, and taxes all rose dramatically under his stewardship.
How to Get Away With a Hollywood Murder By Tim Teeman The director William Desmond Taylor was shot dead, notoriously, in 1922.
Murder by the hypodermic needle, no doubt, would escape detection often enough were it not for circumstances.
Murder, rape, arson, and a host of other atrocities are often the first evidence of a diseased brain.
"I think I know who committed the Daffodil Murder," he said steadily.
Murder is ghastly enough, in whatever shape it meets us, and from whatever cause.
What a dickens is the Woman always a whimpring about Murder for?
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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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