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• holocaust
  holocaust

  noun

  a great or complete devastation or destruction, especially by fire.
• Holocaust
  Holocaust

  The killing of some six million Jews (see also Jews) by the Nazis during World War II. To the Nazis, the Holocaust was the “Final Solution” to the “Jewish problem,” and would help them establish a pure German master race. Much of the killing took place in concentration camps, such as Auschwitz and Dachau. (See Adolf Eichmann and Heinrich Himmler.)

holocaust

American  

[hol-uh-kawst, hoh-luh-] / ˈhɒl əˌkɔst, ˈhoʊ lə- /

noun

• holocausts
  plural

1. a great or complete devastation or destruction, especially by fire.

   Synonyms:

   ravage, havoc, ruin, conflagration, inferno

2. a sacrifice completely consumed by fire; burnt offering.

3. Usually the Holocaust the systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

4. any mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life.

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holocaust British  

/ ˈhɒləˌkɔːst /

noun

1. great destruction or loss of life or the source of such destruction, esp fire

2. Also called: the Churban.   the Shoah.  (usually capital) the mass murder of Jews and members of many other ethnic, social, and political groups in continental Europe between 1940 and 1945 by the Nazi regime

3. a rare word for burnt offering

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Holocaust Cultural  

1. The killing of some six million Jews (see also Jews) by the Nazis during World War II. To the Nazis, the Holocaust was the “Final Solution” to the “Jewish problem,” and would help them establish a pure German master race. Much of the killing took place in concentration camps, such as Auschwitz and Dachau. (See Adolf Eichmann and Heinrich Himmler.)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• holocaustal
  adjective
• holocaustic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• holocausts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of holocaust

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English, from Late Latin holocaustum (Vulgate), from Greek holókauston (Septuagint), neuter of holókaustos “burnt whole”; see holo-, caustic

Explanation

The noun holocaust means "total destruction." However, this word has become inextricably connected with World War II and the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis (in this usage, Holocaust is capitalized). When holocaust entered the English language in the thirteenth century, it referred to burnt offerings described in the Old Testament. The original Greek word meant "burnt whole" (note the relationship to the word caustic). Since at least 1942, though, the word is most often used to describe the extermination of Jews by the Nazis. Some people object to the religious connotations of the word, though, preferring to use the Hebrew Shoah (catastrophe) instead.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

holocaust Holocaust holocausts

As World Cup matches are played in L.A., the holocaust museum unveils an exhibition that explores how World War II upheaval altered global soccer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026

Alexander Kleytman was a holocaust survivor who came to Australia from Ukraine.

From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2025

In the 1950s, it was a nuclear holocaust and in the 1960s a population bomb and deforestation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025

But “Godzilla Minus One” returns to the essential nature of Godzilla as a sober symbol of nuclear holocaust and atomic trauma.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 2024

White people were, and are, astounded by the holocaust in Germany.

From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin

He was explicit that Fuentes’ views on race and women are indefensible, and that what Fuentes has said about the Holocaust and Nazism cannot be defended.

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026

“Ever since the mural was put up, I look at it out of pure joy,” Leventhal, a senior director at the USC Shoah Foundation, which archives testimonies of Holocaust survivors, told the Times.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

"The Holocaust was a deliberate genocidal campaign to eradicate an entire people for motives of ethnic or religious prejudice. The Covid vaccine rollout was not," the judge said.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

The 70-year-old plays up her personal story as the daughter of Jewish parents who she says "barely survived" the Holocaust before emigrating to Costa Rica.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

They wanted to help people learn about the Holocaust, and to work for understanding and compassion among all races and religions.

From "Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps" by Andrea Warren

There can be no more holocausts; no more genocides; no more Stalinist gulags.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 14, 2019

Not only are adults guilty of perpetrating the worst of human sins—wars, holocausts, famines—we over-25s aren’t always all that great at other supposedly “adult” activities, like thinking ahead and extending empathy to others.

From Slate ● Sep. 10, 2018

“We have to be aware of the fact that holocausts are still going on and that we must do our part to protect people from genocide,” he said.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 27, 2018

Sikhs have survived multiple holocausts, and served alongside allies in WWI and II.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2012

Viz., such sacrifices as the Jews at this time offered, without obedience; which was the thing principally commanded: so that in comparison with it, the offering of the holocausts and sacrifices was of small account.

From The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 28: Jeremias The Challoner Revision by

Related Words

• immolation
• inferno