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

In one verse, Saldaña sings/raps Spanish lyrics that translate to: “The chemist, he recently had his business partner and family killed / All to the slaughter! / And what did they do with the corpses? / Acid!”

From Los Angeles Times

It was a fascist spectacle — and included a speaker who said the "enemies" of the Trump movement need to be “slaughtered.”

From Salon

No longer delivered "on the hoof" to cities, cattle were now slaughtered in Chicago and sent East as tinned meat or, after the 1870s, in refrigerated railcars.

From Salon

“It’s 16 weeks of not knowing whether you live or die by the sort of the episode. You could have a week of wonderful reviews, and then you are slaughtered the next,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times

In both states, there are exemptions for lactating dairy cattle destined for slaughter.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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