genocide

[jen-uh-sahyd]

noun

1. the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

genocide

/ ˈdʒɛnəʊˌsaɪd /

noun

1. the policy of deliberately killing a nationality or ethnic group

genocide

1. The deliberate destruction of an entire race or nation. The Holocaust conducted by the Nazis in Germany and the Rwandan genocide are examples of attempts at genocide.

Other Word Forms

• genocidal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of genocide¹

First recorded in 1940–45; from Greek géno(s) “race” + -cide

Word History and Origins

Origin of genocide¹

C20: from geno-, from Greek genos race + _-cide

Example Sentences

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, the federal government resettled tens of thousands of Hmong, Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees in California after the Vietnam War, the Cambodian genocide and the Laotian civil war .

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A video of the interaction played in court heard shouts of "Alex Davies-Jones you support genocide" and "what do you think about children being tortured and murdered?"

Read more on BBC

Are we going to travel back in time and prevent genocide, world wars, the atomic bomb?

Read more on Literature

Last year, it passed a new law designed to bolster the legal rights of the Cassirers and other families in California to recover valuable property stolen from them in acts of genocide or political persecution.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The crown prince’s increasingly low profile on Gaza since he accused Israel of “genocide” in 2024 makes sense given his challenges at home.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• carnage 
• mass murder 
• massacre 
• slaughter