slaughter
Syllables: slaugh·ter/ˈslɔːtə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˈsloːtə/
slaughter noun: the killing of animals, generally for food.
Noun
slaughter (countable and uncountable, plural slaughters)
- The killing of animals, generally for food.
- A massacre; the killing of a large number of people.
- For ſin, on war and mutual ſlaughter bent.1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book VI, 1773, The First Six Books of Milton's Paradise Lost, Edinburgh, page 416
- […] I ſee
Th’ Inſulting Tyrant prancing o’er the Field
Strow’d with Rome’s Citizens, and drench’d in Slaughter,
His Horſe’s Hoofs wet with Patrician Blood.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, pages 1-2
- A mass destruction of non-living things.
- There was a massive slaughter of W.R. steam power at the conclusion of the summer timetable. In all, 169 locomotives were condemned.1962 December, “Motive Power Miscellany: Western Region”, in Modern Railways, page 425
- A rout or decisive defeat.
- A group of iguanas.
- Synonyms:
- mess
Verb
slaughter (third-person singular simple present slaughters, present participle slaughtering, simple past and past participle slaughtered)
- To butcher animals, generally for food.
- To massacre people in large numbers.
- Hurriedly he snatched up others, one or two at a time, until he had slaughtered thirty of Hrothgar's doughtiest earls.1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 21
- To kill someone or something, especially in a particularly brutal manner.
- Therefore cheere vp your mindes, prepare to fight,
He that can take or ſlaughter Tamburlaine,
Shall rule the Prouince of Albania.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
- Therefore cheere vp your mindes, prepare to fight,
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Slaughter
Slaughter
- A surname.
- A town in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States, from the surname.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Slaughter
Slaughter
- Used in the placenames of the Slaughters, Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter.
slaughter meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
slaughter in Hindi
- killing of animals
- वध vadh
slaughter in Tamil
- படு கொலை, படுகொலை செய், இறைச்சிக்காக விலங்குகளை வெட்டுதல், பலி, படுதோல்வி
slaughter in Marathi
- slaughter, massacre
- कत्तल kattal
- slaughter
- वध vadh
slaughter in Urdu
- killing of animals
- ذَبْح zabh
More languagesFewer languages
- slaughter in Bengali
- হত্যা hotta
- slaughter in Telugu
- కోయు kōyu
- slaughter in Malayalam
- കശാപ്പ് kaśāppŭ, അറുക്കുക aṟukkuka, ക്ഷണനം kṣaṇanaṁ
- slaughter in Kannada
- ಕಗ್ಗೊಲೆ kaggole
- slaughter in Odia
- ମାଥ mātha
- slaughter in Tagalog
- sumbali
- slaughter in Arabic
- مَذْبَحَة maḏbaḥa, تَقْتِيل taqtīl, ذَبْح ḏabḥ, ذَبَحَ ḏabaḥa
- slaughter in Malay
- penyembelihan, sembelih, sanggerah
Examples of slaughter in a sentence
- The slaughter of the innocents was a significant event in the New Testament.
- In many European countries cattle have to be stunned before slaughtering.
- During the crusades, many Muslims and Christians and Jews were slaughtered.
Synonyms of slaughter
Forms of slaughter
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | slaughters |
| alternative form (obsolete) | slaughtre |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | slaughters |
| present participle | slaughtering |
| past participle | slaughtered |
| past | slaughtered |
Origin of slaughter
From Middle English slaughter, from Old Norse *slahtr, later sláttr, from Proto-Germanic *slahtrą, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną. Equivalent to slay + -ter (as in laughter). Eventually derived from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Related with Dutch slachten, German schlachten, Finnish lahdata (all “to slaughter”).
Originally named for someone who slaughtered animals for food.
See Slaughters.
Words formed from slaughter
- antislaughter
- as a lamb to the slaughter
- catslaughter
- come like a lamb to the slaughter
- deerslaughter
- godslaughter
- lamb to the slaughter
- like a lamb to the slaughter
- manslaughter
- preslaughter
- self-slaughter
- selfslaughter
- slaughter animal
- slaughterbot
- slaughterdom
- slaughteress
- slaughterfest
- slaughterhall
- slaughterhouse
- slaughteringly
- slaughterless
- slaughterman
- slaughterous
- slaughterperson
- slaughterwoman
- unslaughtered
- woman-slaughter
- misslaughter
- self-slaughtered
- slaughterer
- slaughterable
Phrases with slaughter
Words that rhyme with slaughter
Questions about slaughter
- What does slaughter mean?
- Slaughter means the killing of animals, generally for food.
- What is slaughter in Hindi?
- Slaughter in Hindi is वध (vadh). See Slaughter meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is slaughter?
- Slaughter can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce slaughter?
- Slaughter is pronounced /ˈslɔːtə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of slaughter?
- The plural of slaughter is slaughters.
Words near slaughter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: slaughter (page history and authors); Slaughter (page history and authors); slaughter (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); कत्तल (Marathi) (page history and authors); కోయు (Telugu) (page history and authors); അറുക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಕಗ್ಗೊಲೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ମାଥ (Odia) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-slaughter.wav.
Cite this entry: “slaughter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/slaughter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.