slaughterhouse
Americannoun
-
slaughterhouses
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of slaughterhouse
Explanation
A slaughterhouse is where animals are killed so they can be used for meat. Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle exposes the unsafe working conditions of a slaughterhouse in Chicago. Good times. Not. In order for people to eat meat, animals have to be slaughtered, or killed, and the place where this happens on a large scale is a slaughterhouse. Sometimes it's also called an abattoir. The word stems from a Scandinavian root and is related to the Old Norseslatr, "a butchering." The word slaughterhouse can also refer to a violent situation. In Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Slaughterhouse Five," war prisoners are housed in an abandoned slaughterhouse, which is also a metaphor for war itself.
Vocabulary lists containing slaughterhouse
"Frankenstein" and "How Frankenstein Began"
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Neighborhood Odes
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
They’re not selling it and sending it to a slaughterhouse.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
Realizing that they’re headed to the slaughterhouse, the animals rebel against the humans, save themselves, and reinhabit the farm, establishing their own system of checks and balances to ensure their survival.
From Salon ● May 3, 2026
He's written about slaughterhouse workers, the family behind Tyson Foods, the value of a 7-Eleven Slurpee, and the failed supermarket megamerger between Kroger and Albertsons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026
Companies are snapping up Vernon properties and upgrading them, adding advanced cooling systems to old office buildings and filling a shuttered slaughterhouse that once housed hogs, with advanced chips.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2025
Around to the other side of the building, tanker trucks pump in thousands of gallons of liquefied fat, usually beef fat from a nearby slaughterhouse.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
The payments aim to provide a financial safety net for smaller slaughterhouses, which are losing an estimated $300 per head of cattle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Somehow, even if they do, there is a successive chain of Agriculture Department inspectors, including at slaughterhouses and things like that, that are going to notice a gaping wound on an animal.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
"In addition to setting up that 20 kilometre zone, we've increased the amount of testing in the slaughterhouses," Muir said.
From BBC ● Dec. 1, 2025
The pair later found employment in slaughterhouses in Nebraska, where she suffered a severe leg injury from a cutting blade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2025
When I crossed the river’s northern bend, I avoided glancing at the brownish water churning below, noxious with runoff from the slaughterhouses.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
