killer
Syllables: kill·erUK/ˈkɪlə//ˈkɪlɚ/
killer noun: one who or that which kills.
Noun
killer (countable and uncountable, plural killers)
- One who or that which kills.
- There’s a killer on the loose.
- My cat is a habitual bird killer.
- That which causes stress or is extremely difficult, especially that which may cause failure at a task.
- That test was a killer.
- The final hill in the race course was a killer.
- Something that is so far ahead of its competition that it effectively kills off that competition.
- Digital streaming platforms are CD killers.
- The killer whale.
- Theſe Killers are from twenty to thirty Feet long, and have Teeth in both Jaws that lock one within another. They have a Fin, near the middle of their Backs, four or five Foot long. They go in Company by Dozens, and ſet upon a young Whale, and will bait him like ſo many Bull-dogs; ſome will lay...1734, Royal society of London, The Philosophical Transactions and Collections: Abridged and Disposed Under General Heads, Volume 9, Thomas Bennet, …, page 429
- This skull, which has all the appearance of being that of a full-grown animal, is just one quarter the length and breadth of the skull of the adult common Killer (Orca gladiator).1866, Gray, Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British Museum, Volume 1, page 283
- A remarkably impressive person or thing.
- The head of the Environmental Protection Agency quakes with mirth at his own punch line. Grimaldi chuckles through his teeth. “A killer, Tom, an absolute killer.”2004, David Mitchell, “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery”, in Cloud Atlas, →ISBN, page 130
- Picture perfect, you don't need no filter / Gorgeous, make 'em drop dead, you're a killer2020, “Intentions”, in Changes, performed by Justin Bieber ft. Quavo
- A knockout form of darts or pool involving several players.
- A club used for killing fish.
- A particularly heavy type of handstamp, or portion of one, often obscuring a large part of the postage stamp.
- Synonym of virama (“kind of diacritical mark”).
- In the course of its adaptation to non-Indo-Aryan languages, the Burmese script has acquired some features that distinguish it from other Indic scripts. The killer, or virama, participates in some common constructions that would be clumsy to handle the way they would be in the other Indic scripts...1992, Andy Daniels, Joe Becker, “Unicode Technical Report #1 - Burmese, Khmer, and Ethiopia”, in Unicode Consortium
- For example, although the ‘vowel killer’ diacritic may be called a ‘pulli’ in Tamil, it is still referred to by the Unicode character names as a ‘virama’.2002, Richard Ishida, “An Introduction to Indic Scripts”, in W3C
- Synonyms:
- virama
Adjective
killer (comparative more killer, superlative most killer)
- Excellent, very good, cool.
- killer feature
- killer view
- Causing death, destruction, or obliteration.
- killer bee
- killer robot
- Distressing, uncomfortable.
- I had a killer headache this morning.
killer meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
killer in Hindi
- murderer, person who kills
- हत्यारा hatyārā, ख़ूनी xūnī, क़ातिल qātil
- a diacritic mark
- विराम virām
killer in Tamil
- a diacritic mark
- புள்ளி puḷḷi
killer in Urdu
- murderer, person who kills
- قاتِل qātil, کُشِنْدَہ kuśinda, خُونی xūnī
killer in Bengali
- murderer, person who kills
- খুনী khuni, কাতেল katel
- a diacritic mark
- হসন্ত hośonto
More languagesFewer languages
- killer in Telugu
- హంతకుడు, కిల్లర్, హంతకుడిని
- killer in Malayalam
- ചന്ദ്രക്കല candrakkala
- killer in Kannada
- ಕೊಲೆಗ, ಕುಲಿ, ಕೊಲೆಗಾರ, ತಲೆಯಳಿಗ
- killer in Punjabi
- ਕਤਲ ਕਰਨ ਵਾਲਾ
- killer in Gujarati
- કાતિલ kātil
- killer in Odia
- ହଳନ୍ତ haḷanta
- killer in Sanskrit
- घातक ghātaka
- killer in Nepali
- हत्याकर्ता
- killer in Pashto
- قاتل qātél, خوني xuní
- killer in Arabic
- قَاتِل qātil, قَاتِلَة qātila
- killer in Malay
- pembunuh
- killer in Indonesian
- pembunuh
- killer in Thai
- ฆาตกร kâat-dtà-gɔɔn, การันต์ gaa-ran
- killer in Vietnamese
- kẻ giết người, người giết
- killer in Myanmar
- အသတ် a.sat
Examples of killer in a sentence
- Carbon monoxide is a silent killer.
- Theſe Killers are from twenty to thirty Feet long, and have Teeth in both Jaws that lock one within another.1734, Royal society of London, The Philosophical Transactions and Collections: Abridged and Disposed Under General Heads, Volume 9, Thomas...
- Fig. 188.—Grampus or Killer, Orca gladiator. (Flower, art.1891, William Thomas Blanford, Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Mammalia, Taylor & Francis, page 576:
- We once saw an attack made by three killers upon a cow whale and her calf, in a lagoon on the coast of California in the spring of 1858.1895, The Royal Natural History, Volume 3, Frederick Warne, page 55:
- Few animals known to man possess the savage and murderous nature of the small whale-like animals known as killers or orcas.1908, Charles Frederick Holder, Big Game at Sea, Outing publishing Company, page 137:
Synonyms of killer
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
- healer
- life giver
Forms of killer
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | killers |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more killer |
| superlative | most killer |
Origin of killer
From Middle English killer, kyller. By surface analysis, kill + -er.
Words formed from killer
- baby-killer
- boner-killer
- category killer
- Christ-killer
- cicada killer
- city killer
- coach killer
- color killer
- colour killer
- contract killer
- cop killer
- cop-killer
- cowboy killer
- cow killer
- craic killer
- deal killer
- desk killer
- doctor killer
- false killer whale
- fly killer
- fool killer
- giant-killer
- giantkiller
- godkiller
- honour killer
- honor killer
- hunter-killer
- joy killer
- killer application
- killerball
- killer bee
- killer diller
- killeress
- killer game
- killer green bud
- killer instinct
- killerish
- killer language
- killer litter
- killerly
- killer poke
- killership
- killer sudoku
- killer T cell
- ladykiller
- lady-killer
- lady killer
- mankiller
- man-killer
- mercy killer
- mosskiller
- mule killer
- natural killer
- natural killer cell
- nigger killer
- nigger-killer
- nine-killer
- nonkiller
- pain killer
- painkiller
Phrases with killer
- killer app
- USB killer
- baby killer
- killer apps
- killer bees
- spam killer
- tank killer
- time killer
- weed killer
- boner killer
- killer games
- killer pokes
28 more phrasesFewer phrases
- killer whale
- prawn killer
- roach killer
- spree killer
- vowel killer
- Christ killer
- killer cancel
- killer whales
- salmon killer
- serial killer
- silent killer
- thrill killer
- killer cancels
- killer dillers
- killer sudokus
- killer T cells
- passion killer
- killer instincts
- killer languages
- tarantula killer
- serial killer van
- pygmy killer whale
- serial killer vans
- false killer whales
- killer applications
- pygmy killer whales
- natural killer cells
- serial killer glasses
Words that rhyme with killer
Questions about killer
- What does killer mean?
- Killer means one who or that which kills.
- What is killer in Hindi?
- Killer in Hindi is हत्यारा (hatyārā), ख़ूनी (xūnī), क़ातिल (qātil). See Killer meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use killer in a sentence?
- Carbon monoxide is a silent killer.
- What part of speech is killer?
- Killer can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce killer?
- Killer is pronounced /ˈkɪlə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of killer?
- The plural of killer is killers.
Words near killer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: killer (page history and authors); killer (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); killer (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); killer (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); કાતિલ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); killer (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: en-us-killer.ogg.
Cite this entry: “killer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/killer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.