Word.ws English Dictionary

honour killings

honour killings is the plural of honour killing.

Meaning of honour killing

Noun

honour killing (plural honour killings)

  1. (euphemistic) A typically Middle Eastern and South Asian cultural practice whereby a family member, usually female, is murdered by other family members, the act being justified as retribution for a (usually sexual) slight upon the family's honour.
    • The prevailing patriarchal and misogynist practices prevailing in Muslim countries have created an association between Muslim countries and honour killing in the public mind. However, according to UNICEF, the practice of honour killing is an ancient one and involves men killing female relatives in...2008, Riaz Hassan, Inside Muslim Minds, Melbourne University Press, page 200

Questions about honour killings

What is honour killings the plural of?
Honour killings is the plural of honour killing.

Words near honour killings in the dictionary

  1. honour jar
  2. honour jars
  3. honour killer
  4. honour killers
  5. honour killing
  6. honour killings
  7. honour point
  8. honour roll
  9. honour rolls
  10. honour system
  11. honour systems

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: honour killings (page history and authors); honour killing (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:

Cite this entry: “honour killings.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/honour_killings. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.