Word.ws English Dictionary

Avada Kedavra

Avada Kedavra verb: to use the Killing Curse from the Harry Potter series on (someone), causing immediate death.

Verb

Avada Kedavra (third-person singular simple present Avada Kedavras, present participle Avada Kedavra-ing, simple past and past participle Avada Kedavra'd or Avada Kedavraed)

  1. (ambitransitive, humorous) To use the Killing Curse from the Harry Potter series on (someone), causing immediate death.
    • There isn’t much point in trying to attack this, the final installment in the epic saga of Harry Potter; everyone in the civilized world has already seen it, and all of the die-hard HP fans won’t accept even the slightest criticism of the movies, save for the degree to which they differ from the...2011 August 16, Kevin Kryah, “Harry ends on a high note”, in Samantha Strong, editor, Cub Reporter, volume 63, number 1, Indianapolis, Ind.: Lawrence Central High School, page 13, column 1
    • If Harry Potter was a vicious hooligan, we’d quite happily accept Voldermort^([sic]) Avada-Kedavra-ing him.2012, Charlie Wilson, A Seriously Useful Author’s Guide to Writing a Marketable Book, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 136
  2. (figuratively, humorous, transitive) To destroy (something).
    • Better be careful, witch, it sounds like he’s about to Avada Kedavra this relationship.2011 December 5, UWM Post, volume 56, number 13, Milwaukee, Wis.: University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
    • Hermione Granger just turned 36, in case your childhood hasn’t already been Avada Kedavra’d into oblivion.2015 October 2, “The Bullseye”, in Henry Goldblatt, editor, Entertainment Weekly, number 1383, New York, N.Y.: Entertainment Weekly Inc., →ISSN, page 80

Examples of Avada Kedavra in a sentence

  • However, at the time of this writing, HP-fever has died down and I can now give this movie a fair examination, free from the scornful “avada kedavra-ing” of fanboys and fangirls.2011 August 16, Kevin Kryah, “Harry ends on a high note”, in Samantha Strong, editor, Cub Reporter, volume 63, number 1, Indianapolis...
  • If I was Harry Potter, I would have Avada Kedavraed your ass straight into hell.2013, J.C. Daniels [pseudonym; Shiloh Walker], chapter 10, in Broken Blade (Colbana Files), →ISBN, part 1 (Broken):
  • Personally, I would have avada kedavra’d the whole lot of them.2016 April 1, Skeeter Reeter bo Beeter [pseudonym], “Professor Rewarded for Taking Revenge on Slacking Students”, in The Wilson Bullboard...
  • One place, though, stops us from Avada Kedavra-ing ourselves – the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.2018 August 22–28, “Best Magical Queue”, in Jessica Bryce Young, editor, Best of Orlando 2018 (Orlando Weekly), Orlando, Fla.: Euclid Media...

Forms of Avada Kedavra

third-person singular presentAvada Kedavras
present participleAvada Kedavra-ing
past participleAvada Kedavra'd
pastAvada Kedavra'd
past participleAvada Kedavraed
pastAvada Kedavraed

Origin of Avada Kedavra

Verbalization of the incantation of the Killing Curse in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Rowling has stated that it is from Aramaic עַבְדָא כְּדַבְרָא (avda kedavra, literally “what was said has been done”), calling it “the original of abracadabra, which means ‘let the thing be destroyed’”; compare Hebrew עַבְרָא כְּדַבְרָא (avra kedavra, literally “what was said has come to pass”). In fact, a relationship of these terms with abracadabra (of unknown origin) has been suggested, but there is little supporting evidence.

Questions about Avada Kedavra

What does Avada Kedavra mean?
Avada Kedavra means to use the Killing Curse from the Harry Potter series on (someone), causing immediate death.
How do you use Avada Kedavra in a sentence?
However, at the time of this writing, HP-fever has died down and I can now give this movie a fair examination, free from the scornful “avada kedavra-ing” of fanboys and fangirls.
What part of speech is Avada Kedavra?
Avada Kedavra is a verb.
What is the past tense of Avada Kedavra?
The past tense of Avada Kedavra is Avada Kedavra'd.

Words near Avada Kedavra in the dictionary

  1. AVAC
  2. avacado
  3. avacincaptad pegol
  4. avacopan
  5. avacuolar
  6. Avada Kedavra
  7. Avada Kedavra'd
  8. Avada Kedavra-ing
  9. Avada Kedavraed
  10. Avada Kedavras
  11. avadana

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Avada Kedavra (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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Cite this entry: “Avada Kedavra.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/avada_kedavra. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.