infanticide

[ in-fan-tuh-sahyd ]

noun

the act of killing an infant.
the practice of killing newborn infants.

a person who kills an infant.

Origin of infanticide

1650–60; (def. 1) <Late Latin infanticīdium;(def. 2) <Late Latin infanticīda.See infant, -i-, -cide

Other words from infanticide

in·fan·ti·cid·al, adjective

Words Nearby infanticide

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use infanticide in a sentence

Well the idea of “release” and infanticide and suggestions of eliminating the imperfect is pretty gnarly, if you think about it.
'The Giver' Star Brenton Thwaites Knows You Think He's Too Old to Play Jonas | Kevin Fallon | August 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Neighboring city-state Athens was more haphazard about its infanticide.
Living With Disability in the Dark Ages | Elizabeth Picciuto | July 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
What we need to learn from the Gosnell case is that late-term abortion is infanticide.
Abortion Rights Community Has Become the NRA of the Left | Kirsten Powers | May 6, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
There is a reason the late Democratic senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan called this procedure infanticide.
Pay Attention to the Gosnell Trial | Justin Green | April 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
The right tried to use this against Obama in 2008, leading FactCheck.org to look into claims that Obama supported infanticide.
Conservative Activists at GOP Convention Doggedly Focus on Abortion | Michelle Goldberg | August 29, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST

They did not know enough to prevent conception, but they did the best they could by means of abortion and infanticide.
The Book of Life: Vol. I Mind and Body; Vol. II Love and Society | Upton Sinclair
They practice polyandry.258 infanticide was frequent among them until suppressed under the action of Government.
Recollections of Thirty-nine Years in the Army | Charles Alexander Gordon
Even to-day infanticide still appears to be practised by some of the Dravidian tribes of Hindustan.
Elements of Folk Psychology | Wilhelm Wundt
When morality is no more taught, religion no longer received, or laws exist, Medea would still terrify us with her infanticide.
The Aesthetical Essays | Friedrich Schiller
Nowhere are drunkenness and infanticide more disgusting and horrible, when they do occur, than in Calvinistic Scotland.
How to Observe | Harriet Martineau

British Dictionary definitions for infanticide

infanticide

/ (ɪnˈfæntɪˌsaɪd) /

noun

the killing of an infant
the practice of killing newborn infants, still prevalent in some primitive tribes

a person who kills an infant

Derived forms of infanticide

infanticidal, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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