massacre
Syllables: mass·a·cre/ˈmæs.ə.kə(ɹ)/
massacre noun: the killing of a considerable number (usually limited to people) where little or no resistance can be made, with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and/or contrary to civilized norms.
Noun
massacre (countable and uncountable, plural massacres)
- The killing of a considerable number (usually limited to people) where little or no resistance can be made, with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and/or contrary to civilized norms.
- St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
- Massacres of Diyarbekir
- Synonyms:
- butchery, slaughter, decimation
- Murder.
- The tyrannous and bloody act is done,—
The most arch deed of piteous massacre
That ever yet this land was guilty of.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- The tyrannous and bloody act is done,—
- Any overwhelming defeat, as in a game or sport.
Verb
massacre (third-person singular simple present massacres, present participle massacring, simple past and past participle massacred)
- To kill in considerable numbers where little or no resistance can be made, with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and contrary to civilized norms. (Often limited to the killing of human beings.)
- If James should be pleased to massacre them all, as Maximilian had massacred the Theban legion1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC
- To win against (an opponent) very decisively.
- To perform (a work, such as a musical piece or a play) very poorly.
- To kill with great force or brutality.
- Look how they massacred my boy.1972, The Godfather (film)
massacre meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
massacre in Hindi
- intentional mass killing
- कत्लेआम katleām, हत्याकांड hatyākāṇḍ, सामूहिक हत्या sāmūhik hatyā
massacre in Tamil
- படுகொலை, பலகொலை, கூட்டுக்கொலை
massacre in Urdu
- intentional mass killing
- قَتْلِ عام qatl-i 'ām
massacre in Bengali
- intentional mass killing
- গণহত্যা gonohotta
More languagesFewer languages
- massacre in Telugu
- ఊచకోత ūcakōta
- massacre in Malayalam
- കൂട്ടക്കൊല
- massacre in Kannada
- ಕಗ್ಗೊಲೆ kaggole
- massacre in Punjabi
- ਕਤਲਾਮ katalām
- massacre in Tagalog
- masaker
- massacre in Arabic
- مَذْبَحَة maḏbaḥa, مَجْزَرَة majzara, قَتَّلَ qattala, ذَبَّحَ ḏabbaḥa
- massacre in Indonesian
- pembantaian, membantai
- massacre in Thai
- การสังหารหมู่ gaan-sǎng-hǎan-mùu, สังหารหมู่ sǎng-hǎan-mùu
- massacre in Vietnamese
- sự tàn sát, tàn sát
- massacre in Myanmar
- လူသတ်ပွဲ lusatpwai:
Examples of massacre in a sentence
- St. Valentine's Day Massacre
- Huge demonstrations led to the Tiananmen Square massacre, where more than two thousand people who had dared to speak out against the government were killed and many more injured.2008, Nancy Pelosi, “A Voice That Will Be Heard”, in Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters, Doubleday, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC...
Synonyms of massacre
Forms of massacre
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | massacres |
| alternative form (archaic) | massacer |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | massacres |
| present participle | massacring |
| past participle | massacred |
| past | massacred |
Origin of massacre
1580, from Middle French massacre, from Old French macacre, marcacre, macecre, macecle (“slaughterhouse, butchery”), usually thought to be deverbal from Old French macecrer, macecler (“to slaughter”), though the noun seems to be attested somewhat earlier. It is also found in Medieval Latin mazacrium (“massacre, slaughter, killing”, also “the head of a newly killed stag”). Further origin disputed: * From Latin macellum (“butcher shop”). * From Vulgar Latin *matteuculāre, from *matteuca (cf. massue), from Late Latin mattea, mattia, from Latin mateola. * From Middle Low German *matskelen (“to massacre”) (compare German metzeln (“massacre”)), frequentative of matsken, matzgen (“to cut, hew”), from Proto-West Germanic *maitan, from Proto-Germanic *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small”). Akin to Old High German meizan (“to cut”) among others. * Note also Arabic مَجْزَرَة (majzara), originally “spot where animals are slaughtered”, now also “massacre”, and in Maghrebi Arabic “slaughterhouse”. Derived from جَزَرَ (jazara, “to cut, slaughter”).
Words formed from massacre
- Flour Massacre
- massacrist
- massacrous
- St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
- unmassacred
Phrases with massacre
Questions about massacre
- What does massacre mean?
- Massacre means the killing of a considerable number (usually limited to people) where little or no resistance can be made, with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and/or contrary to civilized norms.
- What is massacre in Hindi?
- Massacre in Hindi is कत्लेआम (katleām), हत्याकांड (hatyākāṇḍ), सामूहिक हत्या (sāmūhik hatyā). See Massacre meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use massacre in a sentence?
- St. Valentine's Day Massacre
- What part of speech is massacre?
- Massacre can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce massacre?
- Massacre is pronounced /ˈmæs.ə.kə(ɹ)/.
- What is the plural of massacre?
- The plural of massacre is massacres.
Words near massacre in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: massacre (page history and authors); massacre (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); massacre (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಕಗ್ಗೊಲೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ਕਤਲਾਮ (Punjabi) (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: En-us-massacre.ogg.
Cite this entry: “massacre.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/massacre. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.