- present participle of kill.
killing
Americannoun
-
killings
plural
-
the act of a person or thing that kills.
-
the total game killed on a hunt.
-
Informal. a quick and unusually large profit or financial gain.
We would all like to win the lottery or make a killing in the stock market.
adjective
-
Tuberculosis was a killing disease well into the 20th century, and society found itself with few remedies.
-
exhausting.
An ever-expanding workload is imperceptible at first, but eventually we're operating at a killing pace.
-
Informal. irresistibly funny.
-
Slang. very attractive or fascinating.
The actress is known for her outstanding beauty and killing smile.
adjective
-
informal very tiring; exhausting
a killing pace
-
informal extremely funny; hilarious
-
causing death; fatal
noun
-
the act of causing death; slaying
-
informal a sudden stroke of success, usually financial, as in speculations on the stock market (esp in the phrase make a killing )
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of killing
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English killing(e), kyllyng(e) (gerund); see kill 1, -ing 1, -ing 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Nobody will be bringing him in, much less killing him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
The captain of an overloaded boat that capsized in New York Harbor earlier this month, killing a woman and her 5-month-old infant, has been arrested by federal authorities and faces deportation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Australian former defence force chief Mark Binskin handed down a report in August 2024 that found "serious failures" in the IDF's procedures led to the killing of Frankcom.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Ecuador's intelligence chief and five US citizens died when a tourist helicopter crashed in central Kenya on Wednesday, killing all seven people on board, officials said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
His silence on the slavery question was strategic, believing as he did that slavery was a cancer on the body politic of America that could not at present be removed without killing the patient.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
The motive of the killings remains a mystery.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
The Pozos de Gamboa killings drew the attention of leftist President Claudia Sheinbaum's government, which promised to arrest whoever was behind them.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
Authorities say they are looking at shakedowns and possible corruption among public officials as potential factors in the killings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
After the 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and other high-profile police killings, activists demanded that departments adopt the cameras.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Was the man trying to scare him, or did he really think he had done other killings?
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
