genocide
/ˈd͡ʒɛnəsaɪd/
genocide noun: the systematic and deliberate destruction of a group of people; typically by killing substantial numbers of them, on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, or similar grounds.
Noun
genocide (countable and uncountable, plural genocides)
- The systematic and deliberate destruction of a group of people; typically by killing substantial numbers of them, on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, or similar grounds.
- A genocide will always be followed by the denial that it ever happened.
- For the German occupying authorities war thus appears to offer the most appropriate occasion for carrying out their policy of genocide.1944 November, “Analysis of Government - Proposals for Redress” (chapter chapter 9), in Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, page 79
- Synonyms:
- genticide
- The systematic suppression of ideas or practices on the basis of cultural or ethnic origin; culturicide.
- linguistic genocide
- Native Americans in the twentieth century are no longer a "vanishing race" or a silent minority. They have survived centuries of cultural genocide inflicted on them by non-Native Americans— both the well-meaning and the self-seeking— […]1986, James Stuart Olson, Raymond Wilson, Native Americans in the Twentieth Century, →ISBN
- The elimination of an entire class of monsters by the player in roguelikes.
- I used genocide in my first ascension, but have been genocideless ever since. Makes the game much more interesting, but then again, if one hasn't ascended yet, it will be interesting anyway.2000, Kimmo Kasila, “Arch lich at Minetown bones, Help!”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack (Usenet)
- What an Extinctionist tries to do is completely eliminate as many kinds of monsters from the game as possible, either through genocide if it's available, or from just depleting all the kinds of monsters that can be produced.2020, John Harris, Exploring Roguelike Games, CRC Press, →ISBN
Verb
genocide (third-person singular simple present genocides, present participle genociding, simple past and past participle genocided)
- To commit genocide (against); to eliminate (a group of people) completely.
- Even though the Soviet constitution and that of the Ukrainian SSR contain provisions guaranteeing freedom of religion and other fundamental liberties, the Soviet government genocided the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the 1930's […]1986-06-17, Oversight of the Board for International Broadcasting: hearing before the Subcommittee on International Operations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, volume 4, House of Representatives...
- A clue appears in the Nazis finding the Gypsies dirty and disorderly (for not only Jews were genocided).2006, Get 'Em All! Kill 'Em!: Genocide, Terrorism, Righteous Communities, page 8
genocide meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
genocide in Hindi
- systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- नरसंहार narsãhār, जन-वध jan-vadh, जातिसंहार jātisãhār, जातिवध jātivadh, नस्लकुशी naslakuśī
genocide in Tamil
- இனவழிப்பு, இனக்கொலை, இனசங்காரம், இனப்படுகொலை
genocide in Urdu
- systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- نَسَل کُشی nasl kuśī
genocide in Bengali
- systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- গণহত্যা gonohotta
More languagesFewer languages
- genocide in Malayalam
- വംശഹത്യ vaṁśahatya
- genocide in Kannada
- ಜನಹತ್ಯೆ, ಜನಾಂಗ ಹತ್ಯೆ, ವಂಶನಾಶ, ಮಂದಿಯಳಿಪು
- genocide in Punjabi
- ਨਸਲਕੁਸ਼ੀ naslakuśī
- genocide in Gujarati
- નરસંહાર narsãhār
- genocide in Pashto
- نسل کشي nasl koši, نسل وژنه nasl wažǝna
- genocide in Tagalog
- henosidyo
- genocide in Arabic
- إِبَادَة جَمَاعِيَّة ʔibāda jamāʕiyya
- genocide in Malay
- pembasmian kaum, genosid, genosida
- genocide in Indonesian
- pembantaian, genosida
- genocide in Persian
- نسلکشی nasl-koši
- genocide in Thai
- การฆ่าล้างเผ่าพันธุ์ gaan-kâa-láang-pào-pan
- genocide in Vietnamese
- diệt chủng
- genocide in Myanmar
- လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှု lu-myui:tum:sathprathmu.
Examples of genocide in a sentence
- A genocide denier is an apologist for the next genocide. […] Mr.2019 October 15, Aleksandar Hemon, “‘The Bob Dylan of Genocide Apologists’”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times...
- The three main playstyles are neutral (the player kills some, but not all monsters), pacifist (all monsters are spared) and genocide (all monsters are eliminated).2022 May 29, Gabriel Elvery, “Undertale’s Loveable Monsters: Investigating Parasocial Relationships with Non-Player Characters”, in Games...
Synonyms of genocide
Forms of genocide
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | genocides |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | genocides |
| present participle | genociding |
| past participle | genocided |
| past | genocided |
Origin of genocide
From the stem of Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “race, kind”) (cognate with Latin gēns (“tribe, clan”), whence genus), corresponding to geno- + -cide (“killing”). Piecewise doublet of gendercide. Compare genticide. Coined by Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1943 or 1944 in reference to the Armenian Genocide (then known by other names; for more information, see Terminology of the Armenian genocide on Wikipedia), massacres of Assyrians (such as the Simele massacre and Seyfo) and the Jewish Holocaust.
Words formed from genocide
Phrases with genocide
Questions about genocide
- What does genocide mean?
- Genocide means the systematic and deliberate destruction of a group of people; typically by killing substantial numbers of them, on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, or similar grounds.
- What is genocide in Hindi?
- Genocide in Hindi is नरसंहार (narsãhār), जन-वध (jan-vadh), जातिसंहार (jātisãhār). See Genocide meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use genocide in a sentence?
- A genocide denier is an apologist for the next genocide. […] Mr.
- What part of speech is genocide?
- Genocide can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce genocide?
- Genocide is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɛnəsaɪd/.
- What is the plural of genocide?
- The plural of genocide is genocides.
Words near genocide in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: genocide (page history and authors); genocide (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); genocide (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); નરસંહાર (Gujarati) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-genocide.wav.
Cite this entry: “genocide.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/genocide. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.