hecatomb
Syllables: he·ca·tomb/ˈhɛkətuːm/US/ˈhɛkətoʊm/
hecatomb noun: a great public sacrifice to the gods, originally of a hundred oxen; also, a great number of animals reserved for such a sacrifice.
Noun
hecatomb (plural hecatombs)
- A great public sacrifice to the gods, originally of a hundred oxen; also, a great number of animals reserved for such a sacrifice.
- O be propitious, powerfull God of Arts, / I sheathe my weapons, and doe breake my darts, / Be then appeas'd, I'le offer to thy shrine, / An Heccatombe, of many spotted kine.1599, W. Kinsayder or Theriomastix [pseudonyms; John Marston], “Satyre. V. Totum in Toto.”, in The Scourge of Villanie. […], London: […] I[ames] R[oberts], →OCLC; republished as G[eorge] B[agshawe]...
- [B]oth the muſes and the graces are his hard Miſtriſſes, though he daily Invocate them, though he ſacrifize Hecatombs, they ſtil look a ſquint, […]a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “[Characters.] The True Character of a Dunce.”, in Paradoxes, Problemes, Essayes, Characters, […], London: […] T. N. for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1652...
- A great public sacrifice in other religions; also, a great number of animals or people reserved for such a sacrifice.
- The tutelary deity of the Aztecs was the god of war. The great object of their military expeditions was, to gather hecatombs of captives for his altars. The soldier, who fell in battle, was transported at once to the region of ineffable bliss in the bright mansions of the Sun.1843, William H[ickling] Prescott, chapter II, in History of the Conquest of Mexico, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, […], →OCLC, book I (Introduction—View of the Aztec...
- A great number of animals, people, or things that are sacrificed or destroyed; any great sacrifice; also (generally), a large amount.
- O hecatombe! O catastrophe! / From Mydas pompe to Irus beggery!1598, John Marston, “The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image and Certaine Satyres. Satyre V. Parva magna, magna nulla.”, in J[ames] O[rchard] Halliwell, editor, The Works of John Marston. […] (Library...
- [R]egard this Earth / Made multitudinous with thy slaves, whom thou / Requitest for knee-worship, prayer, and praise, / And toil, and hecatombs of broken hearts, / With fear and self-contempt and barren hope.1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 19
Verb
hecatomb (third-person singular simple present hecatombs, present participle hecatombing, simple past and past participle hecatombed)
- To provide (someone or something) with a hecatomb.
hecatomb meaning in Indonesian
hecatomb in Indonesian
- great public sacrifice to the gods, originally of a hundred oxen; great number of animals reserved for such a sacrifice; great public sacrifice in other religions
- hekatombe
Examples of hecatomb in a sentence
- [I]n th' olden time / Some sacrifices ask'd a single victim, / Great expiations had a hecatomb.1821, Lord Byron, Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice. An Historical Tragedy, in Five Acts. […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene...
- [I]t is conceivable that if we were ancients some of us might be offering grateful hecatombs by mistake, and proving our honesty in a ruinously expensive manner.[1879], George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “[Impressions of Theophrastus Such.] The Wasp Credited with the Honeycomb.”, in...
- For the god they speedily stationed the sacred hecatomb all in good order surrounding the well-built altar.2007, Homer, “Book 1”, in Rodney Merrill, transl., The Iliad, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 40, lines 447–448:
- There our orb revolved.— / Now stain'd with blood and now with sunbeams gay, / Here heap'd with hecatombs and there with fruits / Of joyous harvest.—1827, [Lydia Sigourney], “A Vision”, in Poems; […], Boston, Mass.: […] S[amuel] G[riswold] Goodrich […], →OCLC, page 142:
Synonyms of hecatomb
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of hecatomb
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hecatombs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hecatombs |
| present participle | hecatombing |
| past participle | hecatombed |
| past | hecatombed |
Origin of hecatomb
The noun is a learned borrowing from Latin hecatombē (“great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb”), from Ancient Greek ἑκατόμβη (hekatómbē, “great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb; any animal sacrifice or large sacrifice”, from ἑκᾰτόν (hekătón, “hundred”) + βοῦς (boûs, “cattle, cow, ox”)). The verb is derived from the noun.
Questions about hecatomb
- What does hecatomb mean?
- Hecatomb means a great public sacrifice to the gods, originally of a hundred oxen; also, a great number of animals reserved for such a sacrifice.
- What is hecatomb in Indonesian?
- Hecatomb in Indonesian is hekatombe. See Hecatomb meaning in Indonesian.
- How do you use hecatomb in a sentence?
- [I]n th' olden time / Some sacrifices ask'd a single victim, / Great expiations had a hecatomb.
- What part of speech is hecatomb?
- Hecatomb can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce hecatomb?
- Hecatomb is pronounced /ˈhɛkətuːm/ (UK).
- What is the plural of hecatomb?
- The plural of hecatomb is hecatombs.
Words near hecatomb in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hecatomb (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hecatomb.wav.
Cite this entry: “hecatomb.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hecatomb. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.