kill

CEFRA2

/ˈkɪl/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To cause a person, animal, or plant to die.

  2. 02

    verb

    To stop an activity, process, or machine completely.

Examples

  • I'd be unhappy, but I wouldn't kill myself.

  • I was trying to kill time.

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • [ˈkʰɪɫ]
  • /ˈkil/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To render inoperative.

  2. To stop, cease, or render void; to terminate.

  3. To put to death; to extinguish the life of.

More examples

In context

  • He killed the engine and turned off the headlights, but remained in the car, waiting.

  • Smoking kills more people each year than alcohol and hard drugs combined.

  • The editor decided to kill the story.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

In the dense jungle, the lion will blank its prey for food at night.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”). * Perhaps from unattested Old English *cyllan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwulljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwuljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to throw, hit, hurt by throwing”). * Or, possibly a variant of Old English cwellan (“to kill, murder, execute”) (see quell). * Or, from Old Norse kolla (“to hit on the head, harm”), related to Norwegian kylla (“to poll”), Middle Dutch kollen (“to knock down”), Icelandic kollur (“top, head”); see also coll, cole). Compare also Saterland Frisian källe (“to hurt”), Middle Dutch kellen (“to kill, hurt”), Middle Low Germ...