ritual murder

noun

1. a human sacrifice made to appease a deity.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ritual murder¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

Plutarch, writing for a Roman audience curious about this peculiar Greek polis, says that the Helots were subjected to various degradations, including forced drunkenness, demeaning public spectacles, and, most horrifyingly, ritual murder as part of a Spartan coming-of-age ceremony.

From Slate

The greatest portion of Bobby’s reading was devoted to history, everything from The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; he pored over books on battles from ancient Greece to World War II and conspiracy theories such as Hitler's Secret Bankers: How Switzerland Profited from Nazi Germany, as well as anti-Semitic tracts such as Jewish Ritual Murder.

From Literature

The plot revolves around three generations of law enforcement officers, beginning with a cotton farmer who is anointed a police chief in the 1920s and tasked with solving a teenager’s ritual murder.

From New York Times

Trafficking in cannibalism, ritual murder, improvised surgery, insanity in manifold forms and yes, poisoned food, it argues for the savagery of girlhood — with or without an aviation disaster — and how that savagery reverberates throughout women’s lives.

From New York Times

For sociologist Peter Berger, communism and capitalism both adopted a "sacrificial" conception of development in which myths of "progress" and "growth" claimed their share of victims, much as Aztec priests had once used ritual murder to propitiate the gods and save their civilization.

From Salon