genocide
Americannoun
-
genocides
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of genocide
First recorded in 1940–45; from Greek géno(s) “race” + -cide
Compare meaning
How does genocide compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Genocide refers to the systematic destruction of a race or cultural group. In the Rwandan genocide of 1994, members of one ethnic group, the Hutus, killed some 850,000 Tutsis in an attempt to wipe them out completely. Genocide was coined in 1944 by a Polish-Jewish scholar named Raphael Lemkin in response to the Holocaust. In 1948, the United Nations defined genocide as any of several acts (including murder) "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group..."
Vocabulary lists containing genocide
Frankenwords: Words with Roots from Different Languages
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Human Geography - High School
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President Trump's Second State of the Union Address (2019)
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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:
Such false accusations—especially those that target a population with collective guilt—came to be recognized in later court cases as key indicators of incitement to genocide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Established in 2002, the ICC prosecutes individuals accused of the gravest atrocities, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
“She’s still basically on a hero’s journey wanting to get justice for what happened to Remy and for the genocide that she witnessed and that she is a survivor of,” Zann says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
One consistent narrative, however, even 250 years in, is our country’s inability to reckon with the genocide of Indigenous people that kicked the whole thing off.
From Slate ● Jul. 3, 2026
Are we going to travel back in time and prevent genocide, world wars, the atomic bomb?
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
It also commemorates the millions of people outside of the Jewish faith who were murdered through Nazi persecution and those targeted in more recent genocides.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2025
So far, the center has speakers lined up from the Rwandan and Cambodian genocides and is working to include Native voices.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 24, 2024
Monuments have long commemorated the loss of life from calamitous events: wars, genocides, terrorist attacks.
From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2022
Kim, 47, knew that anyone there of his age or older had survived one of the most brutal genocides of the 20th century.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2022
She said a local gallery in Rochester, called the Visual Studies Workshop, had been showing photography from genocides around the world, and perhaps we could do an exhibit there.
From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana
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.
