homicide
Americannoun
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homicides
plural
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the killing of one human being by another.
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a person who kills another; murderer.
noun
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the killing of a human being by another person
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a person who kills another
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of homicide
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin homicīdium “a killing,” homicīda “killer,” equivalent to homi- (combining form of homō “man”) + -cīdium, -cīda, noun suffix; see -cide
Explanation
The noun homicide means a murder. If you kill another person, you are committing a homicide. The level of the homicide is legally defined as murder if the act was intentional and as manslaughter if it was unintentional. Remember the meaning of homicide by remembering that cide, from the Latin cida, refers to killing, while the Latin homo means "man.” So homicide means “killing a man.” You can see another example in this quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes: “Life and language are alike sacred. Homicide and verbicide — that is, violent treatment of a word with fatal results to its legitimate meaning, which is its life — are alike forbidden.”
Vocabulary lists containing homicide
Tears of a Tiger
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Latin Love, Vol II: cadere
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And Then There Were None
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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:
In January of last year, in the last public evidence sessions, the inquiry heard from its expert witness Alan Pughsley, former chief constable of Kent Police and experienced homicide investigator.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Police in Philadelphia say Anthropic alerted it this week that one of its artificial-intelligence models submitted a false homicide tip through PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
An artificial intelligence model developed by Anthropic submitted a fabricated tip about an unsolved homicide to Philadelphia police, authorities said Friday, criticizing the company for taking two months to report the incident.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
The Tehama County coroner’s office will amend the death certificates of the bus driver and passengers to say their cause of death was homicide, authorities said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
He had a good familiarity with the driving laws, the reckless driving laws, the negligent homicide laws.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
He’s presided over declines in homicides and violent crime and established a period of relative calm after the stormy Villanueva years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The number of homicides in the country of 34 million has risen markedly since 2018, while international drug trafficking networks continue to operate on its territory.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
The officers failed to class Carmenza's death as a murder and did not pass it to a homicide team for a fuller investigation, as happens with suspected homicides.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
The homicides, however, had occurred during the period when the sun shines continuously for more than 80 days, making it difficult to establish a clear chronology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
In 2008, there were 417 homicides in New York City.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
