assassinating

Verb

assassinate (third-person singular simple present assassinates, present participle assassinating, simple past and past participle assassinated)

1. (transitive) 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

   Synonyms:

   erase, hit, murder, annihilate, bag, baptize, bereave of life, blight, bring down, bump off

2. (figuratively) To harm, ruin, or defame severely or destroy by treachery, slander, libel, or obscure attack.
   • He assassinated his rival's character.

   Synonyms:

   besmirch, denigrate, traduce, asperse, backbite, badmouth, befoul, belibel, besmear, bewray

See all 4 meanings of assassinate