assassinate
Syllables: as·sas·sin·ateUK/əˈsæsɪneɪt//əˈsæs(ə)nˌeɪt/
assassinate verb: to murder someone, especially an important person, by a sudden or obscure attack, especially for ideological or political reasons.
Verb
assassinate (third-person singular simple present assassinates, present participle assassinating, simple past and past participle assassinated)
- To murder someone, especially an important person, by a sudden or obscure attack, especially for ideological or political reasons.
- The Assassines, a nation depending of Phœnicia, are esteemed among the Mahometists[…]. And thus was our Earle Raymond of Tripoli murthered or assassinated (this word is borrowed from their name) in the middest of his Citie, during the time of our warres in the holy land[…].1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Vertue”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 408
- A Korean Communist selected as a vice chairman of the government for north Korea in the Russian occupied zone was assassinated as he was leaving a conference with Col. Gen. Chistjakoff, commander of the soviet 25th army, a Korean refugee said today.1945 September 14 [1945 September 12], “North Korean Leader Slain in Reign of Terror”, in Chicago Daily Tribune, volume CIV, number 221, page 3, column 5
- Synonyms:
- erase, hit, murder, annihilate, bag, baptize, bereave of life, blight, bring down, bump off
- To harm, ruin, or defame severely or destroy by treachery, slander, libel, or obscure attack.
- He assassinated his rival's character.
- Such uſage as your honourable Lords / Afford me aſſaſſinated and betray'd, […]1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 67
Noun
assassinate (plural assassinates)
- Assassination, murder.
- Mor. Why? if I had made an assassinate upon your Father; vitiated your Mother: ravished your Sisters―
Tru. I would kill you, Sir, I would kill you, if you had.
Mor. Why? you do more in this, Sir: it were a vengeance centuple, for all facinorous Acts, that could be nam'd, to do that you do.
- Mor. Why? if I had made an assassinate upon your Father; vitiated your Mother: ravished your Sisters―
- An assassin.
- Yet again, many of them deſperat hairebraines, raſh, careleſſe, fit to be Aſſaſinates, as being voide of all Feare and Sorrow […]1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Symptomes of the minde”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry...
assassinate meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
assassinate in Tamil
- மறைந்திருந்து கொலை செய், படுகொலை செய், வஞ்சகமாகக் கொல்லு
assassinate in Urdu
- قتل کرنا
assassinate in Bengali
- গুপ্তহত্যা করা
assassinate in Malayalam
- ചതിച്ചു കൊല്ലുക, ഹനിക്കുക, രഹസ്യമായി വധിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- assassinate in Kannada
- ಕೊಲ್ಲು, ಖೂನಿಮಾಡು
- assassinate in Tagalog
- linguhin
- assassinate in Arabic
- اِغْتَالَ iḡtāla
- assassinate in Thai
- ลอบสังหาร lɔ̂ɔp-sǎng-hǎan, ลอบฆ่า
- assassinate in Vietnamese
- ám sát
Examples of assassinate in a sentence
- Internecine strife in Gaza claimed its most senior victim yesterday when militants assassinated one of the most hated security chiefs there.
- What if Abraham Lincoln had not been assassinated? How might the Reconstruction of the Southern States have been handled?
- JFK was assassinated in a motorcade.
Synonyms of assassinate
- erase
- hit
- murder
- annihilate
- bag
- baptize
- bereave of life
- blight
- bring down
- bump off
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of assassinate
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | assassinates |
| present participle | assassinating |
| past participle | assassinated |
| past | assassinated |
| Noun | |
| plural | assassinates |
Origin of assassinate
From assassin + -ate, after Middle French assassiner.
From assassin + -ate (noun-forming suffix).
Words formed from assassinate
Phrases with assassinate
Questions about assassinate
- What does assassinate mean?
- Assassinate means to murder someone, especially an important person, by a sudden or obscure attack, especially for ideological or political reasons.
- What is assassinate in Tamil?
- Assassinate in Tamil is மறைந்திருந்து கொலை செய், படுகொலை செய், வஞ்சகமாகக் கொல்லு. See Assassinate meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is assassinate?
- Assassinate can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce assassinate?
- Assassinate is pronounced /əˈsæsɪneɪt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of assassinate?
- The past tense of assassinate is assassinated.
Words near assassinate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: assassinate (page history and authors); assassinate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); assassinate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); assassinate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); assassinate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); assassinate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-assassinate.ogg.
Cite this entry: “assassinate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/assassinate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.