murder

Syllables: mur·der/ˈmɜːdə(ɹ)//ˈmɝ.dɚ/

murder noun: an act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination. Also the abbreviation of felony murder.

Noun

murder (countable and uncountable, plural murders)

(countable) An act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination.
- Throwing that punch was a murder whether you meant for it to happen or not.
- There have been ten unsolved murders this year alone.
1. (uncountable) The crime of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination.
  - The defendant was charged with murder.
  - Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.[…]One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may...2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
2. (uncountable) The act of killing any being in an immoral manner; (countable) an instance of this.
  - It may be guessed, indeed, that this was the original form of the story, the fairy being the addition of those who considered Jack's thefts from (and murder of) the giant to be scarcely justified without her.1984, Humphrey Carpenter, Mari Prichard, The Oxford companion to children's literature, page 275
  - Dr. Herrera also knew Hemingway had held Batista's army personally responsible for the brutal murders of his dogs, Blackie (Black Dog) and Machakos.2011, Carlene Brennen, Hemingway's Cats, →ISBN, page 161
3. (broadly, nonstandard) Synonym of murderer , a person who has unlawfully killed another.
(figuratively, uncountable) Something difficult or terrible to endure.
- I heard this class is murder.
- This headache is murder.
(dated, figuratively, slang) Something remarkable or impressive.
- Right quick another cat spoke up real loud, saying, “That’s murder man, really murder,” and his eyes were signifying too.1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Tell a Green Man Something”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 3 (1928–1935: The Big Apple), page 230
- Altaira Morbius: [swimming in a pool] Come on in.
  Commander Adams: I didn't bring my bathing suit.
  Altaira Morbius: What's a bathing suit?
  Commander Adams: [quickly turning his back] Oh, murder!1956, Cyril Hume, Forbidden Planet
(collective, countable) A flock of crows or sometimes ravens.
- A murder of crows dotted my backyard.
- Every morning we woke up to the squawking of what seemed like a hundred murders in the trees above our campsite.
Synonyms:

conspiracy, unkindness, flock

Verb

murder (third-person singular simple present murders, present participle murdering, simple past and past participle murdered)

To illegally kill (a person or persons) with intent, especially with predetermination
- The woman found dead in her kitchen was murdered by her husband.
- In the meane time it chaunced, that Marcus Papyrius ſtroke one of the Galles on the heade with his ſtaffe, because he preſumed to ſtroke his bearde: with whiche iniurie the Gaulle beeing prouoked, ſlue Papyrius (as he ſate) with hys ſworde, and therewith the ſlaughter being begun with one, all the...1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “The Historie of Englande”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC...
(colloquial, excessive) To kill violently.
- My uncle’s dog murdered my cat.
(colloquial, excessive, figuratively, transitive) To defeat decisively.
- Our team is going to murder them.
Synonyms:

thrash, trounce, wipe the floor with
(colloquial, excessive, figuratively) To kick someone's ass or chew someone out (used to express one’s anger at somebody).
- He's torn my best shirt. When I see him, I'll murder him!
Synonyms:

kill
To botch or mangle.
- Dr. Caius, the Frenchman in the play, and Evans the Welshman, "Gallia et Guallia," succeed pretty well in their efforts to murder the language.1892, William Shepard Walsh, Handy-book of Literary Curiosities, page 293
(UK, colloquial, figuratively) To devour, ravish.
- I could murder a hamburger right now.
- “Is that so? Well, I could murder a cup of tea,” said Auntie Flip.2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

Proper noun capitalized: Murder

Murder (plural Murders)

A surname.

Also used as

murder is also the abbreviation of felony murder.

murder meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

murder in Hindi

an act of deliberate killing: ख़ून xūn, क़त्ल qatla, हत्या hatyā, घात ghāt
the crime of deliberate killing: हत्या hatyā
deliberately kill: हत्या hatyā

murder in Tamil

an act of deliberate killing: கொலை kolai
the crime of deliberate killing: கொலை kolai

murder in Urdu

an act of deliberate killing: قَتْل qatl, خُون xūn

murder in Bengali

an act of deliberate killing: খূনকতল khun
deliberately kill: কতল করা kotol kora

More languagesFewer languages

murder in Telugu: హత్య hatya
murder in Malayalam: കൊല kola, ഹത്യ hatya, കൊലപാതകം kolapātakaṁ
murder in Punjabi: ਕਤਲ katal, ਖ਼ੂਨ xūn, ਹੱਤਿਆ hattiā
murder in Pashto: قتل qatᶕl, وژنه wažᶕna
murder in Tagalog: pagpatay
murder in Arabic: قَتْل qatl, قَتْلٌ عَمْدٌ qatlun ʕamdun, قَتَلَ qatala
murder in Malay: pembunuhan
murder in Indonesian: pembunuhan
murder in Thai: ฆาตกรรม kâat-dtà-gam
murder in Vietnamese: giết người, vụ giết người, ám sát, vụ ám sát
murder in Myanmar: လူသတ်မှု lusathmu.

Examples of murder in a sentence

John Kennedy had been murdered, and a troubled, puzzled, and outraged nation wanted to know the facts.1971, Lyndon Johnson, “"I feel like I have already been here a year"”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC...
So when you talk about murder, don't confine your discussion to individuals.1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 177:
McCoy, who have been imprisoned for the murder of the Klingon chancellor.2003, Paul Ruditis, Star Trek Voyager: Companion, →ISBN, page 131:
After 19 years on death row in Missouri for the murder of two young women, he has been granted a final opportunity to persuade a judge that he should be spared execution by lethal injection.2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian:

All 40 example sentences with murder

Synonyms of murder

5 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of murder

Forms of murder

Noun
plural	murders
alternative form (obsolete)	murther
Verb
third-person singular present	murders
present participle	murdering
past participle	murdered
past	murdered
Proper noun
plural	Murders

Past tense of murder: murdered

Plural of murder: murders

Origin of murder

From Middle English murder, murdre, mourdre, alteration of earlier murthre (“murder”) (see murther), from Old English morþor (“secret slaying, unlawful killing”) and Old English myrþra (“murder, homicide”), both from Proto-West Germanic *morþr, from Proto-Germanic *murþrą (“death, killing, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tro- (“killing”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-, *mor-, *mr̥- (“to die”). Akin to Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr, “murder”), Old High German mord (“murder”), Old Norse morð (“murder”), Old English myrþrian (“to murder”) and morþ. The -d- in the Middle English form may have been influenced in part by Anglo-Norman murdre, from Old French murdre, from Medieval Latin murdrum (whence the English doublet of murdrum), from Frankish *morþr, *murþr (“murder”), from the same Germanic root, though this may also have been wholly the result of internal development (compare burden, from burthen and spider, from spiþra). (crows): Attested at least since 1475.

English surname from the verb murder, originally given to someone who had a reputation of being a murderer or was accused of committing murder.

Words formed from murder

Words that rhyme with murder

Questions about murder

What does murder mean?: Murder means an act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination.
What is murder in Hindi?: Murder in Hindi is ख़ून (xūn), क़त्ल (qatla), हत्या (hatyā). See Murder meaning in Hindi.
How do you use murder in a sentence?: John Kennedy had been murdered, and a troubled, puzzled, and outraged nation wanted to know the facts.
What part of speech is murder?: Murder can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce murder?: Murder is pronounced /ˈmɜːdə(ɹ)/ (UK).
What is the plural of murder?: The plural of murder is murders.

Words near murder in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: murder (page history and authors); Murder (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-murder.wav, en-us-murder.ogg.

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