body count

noun

1. the number of soldiers killed in a specific period or in a particular military action:

   The daily body count increased as the war went on.

Word History and Origins

Origin of body count¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Whatever your needs may be, there’s a controller that can help you settle in and enjoy the fantastical worlds you want to explore — or just up your body count as you move through the levels of your favorite first-person shooter.

From Popular-Science

The other pathogens, completely unchecked by science, hit the soldiers with such rampant rates of spread that even the germs with low fatality percentages racked up impressive total body counts.

From Time

The body count rises, and we grow our own sourdough starter.

From Vox

Though never before as lethal in terms of body count, such police massacres are common in Brazil, and the scripts each side hauls out in the immediate aftermath are always the same.

From Time

In other words, the free speech exhibited by the folks at Charlie Hebdo was not virtuous—until there was a body count.

From The Daily Beast

The Walking Dead piled up an impressive body count in 2014, with Lizzie, Hershel, and Beth among its major casualties.

From The Daily Beast

In 1988, the year before Spot News moved to Chicago, the city had what looks like a body count suited for war time.

From The Daily Beast

Except in cases with the highest body count, or the most grotesque cruelty, white victims were the only ones that mattered.

From The Daily Beast

The initial body count was estimated at 28, but subsequent reports raised the estimate to 34.

From The Daily Beast

Rescue squads--the familiar ambulance, fire brigades were attempting a body count in the rubble of O'Leary's.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• census