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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

But it does have a strong cultural and ideological focus on having children - informed partly by the desire to rebuild the Jewish population after the horror of the Holocaust.

From BBC • Jun. 15, 2026

Paul Celan survived the Holocaust and became the most consequential postwar German-language poet.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026

This is perhaps best exemplified by a quote from Tommy Ramone, whose parents survived the Holocaust and left Hungary after the Soviet invasion in the 1950s: “People don’t associate punk and Jews.”

From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026

One of them is Oliver Sears, who has been in the country about 40 years and is the founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland.

From BBC • May 15, 2026

We survived the Holocaust because of the enormous risks Schindler took and the bribes and backroom deals he brokered to keep us, his Jewish workers, safe from the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson

Related Words

• immolation
• inferno