massacre

CEFRC1

/ˈmæs.ə.kə(ɹ)/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The killing of many people who cannot defend themselves.

  2. 02

    verb

    To kill many people cruelly and violently.

Examples

  • The general ordered the massacre of all war prisoners.

  • Tom wasn't the only survivor of the massacre.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
4
Synonyms
3

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Any overwhelming defeat, as in a game or sport.

  2. 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.

verb

Extra meaning

  1. 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.)

More examples

In context

  • The bloody massacre of innocent civilians

  • St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre

  • St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The brutal invasion of the town resulted in a terrible blank of innocent civilians.

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

Nearby

Origin

noun

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”), f...