slaughter

¹

[ slaw-ter ]

noun

1. the killing or butchering of cattle, sheep, etc., especially for food.
2. the brutal or violent killing of a person.

   Synonyms: murder

3. the killing of great numbers of people or animals indiscriminately; carnage:

   the slaughter of war.

verb (used with object)

1. to kill or butcher (animals), especially for food.
2. to kill in a brutal or violent manner.
3. to slay in great numbers; massacre.
4. Informal. to defeat thoroughly; trounce:

   They slaughtered our team.

Slaughter

²

[ slaw-ter ]

noun

1. Frank, 1908–2001, U.S. novelist and physician.

slaughter

/ ˈslɔːtə /

noun

1. the killing of animals, esp for food
2. the savage killing of a person
3. the indiscriminate or brutal killing of large numbers of people, as in war; massacre
4. informal.
   a resounding defeat

verb

1. to kill (animals), esp for food
2. to kill in a brutal manner
3. to kill indiscriminately or in large numbers
4. informal.
   to defeat resoundingly

Derived Forms

• ˈslaughterer, noun
• ˈslaughterous, adjective

Other Words From

• slaughter·er noun
• slaughter·ing·ly adverb
• un·slaughtered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of slaughter¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English slaghter, slahter, slauther (noun), from Old Norse slātr, earlier slāttr, slahtr

Word History and Origins

Origin of slaughter¹

Old English sleaht; related to Old Norse slāttar hammering, slātr butchered meat, Old High German slahta, Gothic slauhts, German Schlacht battle

Idioms and Phrases

see like a lamb to the slaughter .

Synonym Study

Slaughter, butcher, massacre all imply violent and bloody methods of killing. Slaughter and butcher, primarily referring to the killing of animals for food, are used also of the brutal or indiscriminate killing of human beings: to slaughter cattle; to butcher a hog. Massacre indicates a general slaughtering of helpless or unresisting victims: to massacre the peasants of a region.

Example Sentences

Although it sets itself up to be about something more than a guy creatively luring women to slavery and slaughter, “Heretic” doesn’t need to be anything more than it is — not every film can reflect real social horror with the scalpel’s edge of “Get Out.”

From Los Angeles Times

Meanwhile, Tania Slaughter, who lives in neighbouring Oakland County, began crying as she told me about voting for Kamala Harris.

From BBC

I just can’t bring myself to cosign so much slaughter and destruction.

From Slate

“Perhaps the issue is that we need to return to a much more traditional model for society,” Marshall tells them, adding that it’s time to “find the bogeyman and slaughter it” so it never returns to “take what is ours.”

From Salon

The use of the word “slaughter”? That should probably have been the tell.

From Slate

Related Words

• annihilation
• bloodbath
• bloodshed
• butchery
• carnage
• destruction
• extermination
• liquidation
• massacre
• murder
• slaying