How do you use the word "murder" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "murder": You are guilty of murder. You've got no alibi for the day of the murder.

Murder Meaning

/ˈmɜːdə(ɹ)/

Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounThe crime of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination.

nounThe crime of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination., The act of committing or abetting a crime that results in the killing of a person, regardless of intent, and even if the committer or abettor is not the one who killed the person: felony murder.

Sentence Examples

You are guilty of murder.

You've got no alibi for the day of the murder.

He was found guilty of murder.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

off hit remove

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The detective believed the death was not an accident but a criminal ____ that occurred at midnight.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The police are currently investigating a very serious ____ that took place in the quiet neighborhood late on Saturday night after the heavy rainstorm.

Word Origin & History

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). (crows): Attested at least since 1475.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"One of the most urgent tasks facing me after 1 assumed office was to assure the country that everything possible was being done to uncover the truth surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy. 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, page 25:

"Reggie Clemons has one last chance to save his life. 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:

"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 not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful." — 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

"The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff." — 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:

"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:

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