kill
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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kills,
present (3rd person singular)
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killed,
past participle, past
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killing
present participle
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to deprive of life in any manner; cause the death of; slay.
- Synonyms:
- assassinate, garrote, strangle, guillotine, behead, electrocute, hang, butcher, massacre, slaughter
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to destroy; extinguish; do away with.
His response killed our hopes.
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to destroy or neutralize the active qualities of.
to kill an odor.
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to spoil the effect of.
His extra brushwork killed the painting.
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to cause (time) to be consumed with seeming rapidity or with a minimum of boredom, especially by engaging in some easy activity or amusement of passing interest.
I had to kill three hours before plane time.
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to spend (time) unprofitably.
He killed ten good years on that job.
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Informal. to overcome completely or with irresistible effect.
That comedian kills me.
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to muffle or deaden.
This carpet kills the sound of footsteps.
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Informal. to cause distress or discomfort to.
These new shoes are killing me.
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Informal. to tire completely; exhaust.
The long hike killed us.
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Informal. to consume completely.
They killed a bottle of bourbon between them.
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to cancel publication of (a word, paragraph, item, etc.), especially after it has been set in type.
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to defeat or veto (a legislative bill, etc.).
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Electricity. to render (a circuit) dead.
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to stop the operation of (machinery, engines, etc.).
He killed the motor and the car stopped.
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Tennis. to hit (a ball) with such force that its return is impossible.
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Metallurgy.
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to deoxidize (steel) before teeming into an ingot mold.
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to eliminate springiness from (wire or the like).
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to cold-roll (sheet metal) after final heat treatment in order to eliminate distortion.
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Ice Hockey. to prevent the opposing team from scoring in the course of (a penalty being served by a teammate or teammates).
verb (used without object)
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kills,
present (3rd person singular)
-
killed,
past participle, past
-
killing
present participle
-
to inflict or cause death.
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to commit murder.
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to be killed.
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to overcome completely; produce an irresistible effect.
dressed to kill.
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Slang. to feel a smarting pain, as from a minor accident; sting.
I stubbed my little toe and that really kills.
noun
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the act of killing, especially game.
The hounds moved in for the kill.
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an animal or animals killed.
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a number or quantity killed.
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an act or instance of hitting or destroying a target, especially an enemy aircraft.
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the target so hit or, especially, destroyed.
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Sports. kill shot.
verb phrase
idioms
noun
verb
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(also intr; when tr, sometimes foll by off) to cause the death of (a person or animal)
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to put an end to; destroy
to kill someone's interest
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to make (time) pass quickly, esp while waiting for something
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to deaden (sound)
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informal to tire out; exhaust
the effort killed him
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informal to cause to suffer pain or discomfort
my shoes are killing me
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informal to cancel, cut, or delete
to kill three lines of text
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informal to quash, defeat, or veto
the bill was killed in the House of Lords
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informal to switch off; stop
to kill a motor
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informal (also intr) to overcome with attraction, laughter, surprise, etc
she was dressed to kill
his gags kill me
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slang to consume (alcoholic drink) entirely
he killed three bottles of rum
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sport to hit (a ball) so hard or so accurately that the opponent cannot return it
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soccer to bring (a moving ball) under control; trap
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informal to overexert oneself
don't kill yourself
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to achieve two results with one action
noun
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the act of causing death, esp at the end of a hunt, bullfight, etc
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the animal or animals killed during a hunt
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the seasonal tally of stock slaughtered at a freezing works
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the destruction of a battleship, tank, etc
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present at the end or climax of some undertaking
noun
Synonym Usage
Kill, execute, murder all mean to deprive of life. Kill is the general word, with no implication of the manner of killing, the agent or cause, or the nature of what is killed (whether human being, animal, or plant): to kill a person. Execute is used with reference to the putting to death of one in accordance with a legal sentence, no matter what the means are: to execute a criminal. Murder is used of killing a human being unlawfully: He murdered him for his money.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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killsimple
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killssimple
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have killedperfect
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has killedperfect
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am killingprogressive
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are killingprogressive
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is killingprogressive
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have been killingperfect progressive
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has been killingperfect progressive
Past
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killedsimple
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had killedperfect
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was killingprogressive
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were killingprogressive
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had been killingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of kill1
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English cullen, killen, kelle “to strike, beat, kill,” Old English cyllan (unattested); cognate with dialectal German küllen (Westphalian). Cf. quell
Origin of kill2
An Americanism first recorded in 1660–70; from Dutch kil, Middle Dutch kille “channel”
Explanation
To kill is to end the life of some living being or something else. So, you could kill a deer by shooting it with a hunting rifle or kill a bill by voting against it. Hunters kill animals for their meat, and drivers sometimes kill an animal accidentally, or inadvertently kill a plant, simply by forgetting to water it. Certain inanimate things are also said to kill, like poison or disease or drunk driving. In each of these cases, death is caused and life is taken. You can also kill figuratively, as when a school board kills the foreign language program or a thunderstorm kills your hopes of a picnic.
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 a separate mouse experiment, they studied chronic granulomatous disease, an inherited disorder that interferes with the ability of certain immune cells to kill harmful microbes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
The two-seater sports car did not have a driver for the demo "to make sure we don't kill anyone," he added.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
For instance, the line “The medicine will help you to: Kill as many myeloma cells as possible” was mistranslated as instructing the patient to somehow kill as many myeloma cells as possible.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
Camilo Duran pulled one back after the break and struck a post as the Scottish champions improved, but Vangelis Pavlidis struck Benfica's fourth late on to kill any faint Celtic hopes.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
But Oscar wasn’t large enough or ferocious enough to kill a deer.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
Effective-altruist organizations are “very committed to this concept of catastrophic risk and how do you prevent it. And one of the big areas of catastrophic risk would be AI kills everyone.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Compared with other illnesses, the plague isn’t much of a problem these days: Each year the regular old flu kills many thousands of people in the United States alone.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
However, cardiovascular disease kills nearly 20 million people around the world each year, with atherosclerosis responsible for most of those deaths.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
That ethereal, ambient thing at the end kills me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
The Empire raids, jails, and kills for such “crimes,” but teaching a six-year-old her letters isn't evil—not in the minds of my people, the Scholar people.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
Yorkshire Wildlife Park has reopened for the first time since a man was killed by a tiger in an enclosure.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Earlier this week, the president shared footage featuring the last moments of a man who was killed by a tiger in a U.K. zoo.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026
Every other soldier involved in planning the unit’s combat operations had been killed, wounded or moved to another part of the front.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
CNN and CBS News both reported that four people -- three children and an adult -- were killed, citing law enforcement.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
Too many men from our community were killed in the Turkish War of Independence—husbands, fathers, uncles, brothers, sons, cousins.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
The key evidence included interviews Davis gave authorities, a documentary and his own 2019 memoir detailing the killing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
The killing of Shakur, also known as 2Pac, was one of America's most famous cold cases, prompting endless debate among music fans over who did it, and why.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Ukraine has stabilised the front line and "broken Russia's ability to advance" by killing so many of its men, Ukraine's former commander-in-chief has claimed in an interview with the BBC.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
His widow Yvonne Akinyi described how the killing upended their family, saying their children were now orphans.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Thousands of beetles laying eggs, spreading bacteria, and killing trees.”
From "Paradise on Fire" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
