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• assassin
  assassin

  noun

  a murderer, especially one who kills a politically prominent person for fanatical or monetary reasons.
• Assassin
  Assassin

  noun

  a member of a secret sect of Muslim fanatics operating in Persia and Syria from about 1090 to 1256, murdering their victims, usually Crusaders

assassin

American  

[uh-sas-in] / əˈsæs ɪn /

noun

• assassins
  plural

1. a murderer, especially one who kills a politically prominent person for fanatical or monetary reasons.

2. (initial capital letter) one of an order of Muslim fanatics, active in Persia and Syria from about 1090 to 1272, whose chief object was to assassinate Crusaders.

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Assassin ¹ British  

/ əˈsæsɪn /

noun

1. a member of a secret sect of Muslim fanatics operating in Persia and Syria from about 1090 to 1256, murdering their victims, usually Crusaders

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assassin ² British  

/ əˈsæsɪn /

noun

1. a murderer, esp one who kills a prominent political figure

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• assassins
  plural

Etymology

Origin of assassin

1525–35; < Medieval Latin assassinī (plural) < Arabic ḥashshāshīn eaters of hashish

Explanation

An assassin is someone who murders an important political or religious leader. Brutus is one of the most infamous assassins in history. He murdered Julius Caesar, who ruled Rome in the first century B.C. The word assassin, pronounced "uh-SASS-in," describes a person who murders a prominent person, like a political or religious leader. Often, this person is hired to kill, though he or she might act on personal motivations. To correctly spell assassin, remember that it has two double s's.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

assassin Assassin assassins

He died decades later at what’s now St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, the same institution that would later house would-be Ronald Reagan assassin John Hinckley, Jr.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham star in a funny, refreshing series about best friends who face a bump in their relationship when one discovers that the other is a professional assassin.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

The game follows Kenway, also from Swansea, as he sails to the Caribbean as a privateer looking for wealth, and evolves into a pirate, then assassin.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

The character they built for “Normal” was intentionally less mythic and more grounded than the former government assassin Odenkirk plays in “Nobody.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2026

For five minutes, the assassin and the servant argued about whether Powell would leave the medicine with Bell.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson

If you trace in this event the origins of a similar scene in Alias Grace and also one in The Blind Assassin, you would be right.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025

And she has staged a number of plays at the National over the past 25 years, most recently Kerry Jackson and The Father and the Assassin, both last year.

From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2023

Its counterpart imperial stout, Vanilla Bean Assassin, is ranked No. 2, while another offering called Mornin’ Delight is ranked in the top 10.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 27, 2023

“An Assassin in Utopia” links President James Garfield’s killer to an atmosphere of free love and religious fervor that gripped Oneida, N.Y., in the late 1800s.

From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2023

The hurried search of the decks, her frustration ceding to worry and abyssal panic when she realized the Assassin was no longer on board.

From "The Reader" by Traci Chee

"This awoke not just Michoacan, but all of Mexico," she told AFP while surrounded by bodyguards to keep would-be assassins at bay.

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

Menus are hammered out course by course, with ingredients screened to avoid poisoning—not just by would-be assassins but also regular old food poisoning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026

A nod of appreciation to those assassins who don't make it - Ballon d'Or-winner Andriy Shevchenko was close, Christian Vieri's highlights and world-record transfer fee came last century.

From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026

I don’t want to go too deep into the plot, which involves a supersonic weapon, stolen software, assassins on motorcycles and a common ticking-clock device, but it’s closer to “Moonraker,” say, than “Slow Horses.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026

Was this how the other assassins at the Assassins’ Keep had felt all those years she had spent hogging Arobynn Hamel’s attention?

From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas