assassinate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to kill suddenly or secretively, especially a prominent person; murder premeditatedly and treacherously.
- Synonyms:
- slay
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to destroy or harm treacherously and viciously.
to assassinate a person's character.
verb
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to murder (a person, esp a public or political figure), usually by a surprise attack
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to ruin or harm (a person's reputation, etc) by slander
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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assassinatesimple
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assassinatessimple
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have assassinatedperfect
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has assassinatedperfect
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am assassinatingprogressive
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are assassinatingprogressive
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is assassinatingprogressive
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have been assassinatingperfect progressive
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has been assassinatingperfect progressive
Past
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assassinatedsimple
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had assassinatedperfect
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was assassinatingprogressive
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were assassinatingprogressive
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had been assassinatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of assassinate
Explanation
To assassinate someone means to target and deliberately kill that person. The word assassinate is almost always used to describe the killing of a famous person. When a political leader or very well-known person is murdered, the killer is said to assassinate the victim. A killer might assassinate someone for political or ideological reasons, to gain fame for the act, or possibly for payment by someone else. You can assassinate figuratively, as well, by damaging a person's good name: "If you print that story, it will assassinate my reputation." The Arabic root of assassin is hashishiyyin, "hashish users."
Vocabulary lists containing assassinate
"The Civil Rights Movement"
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English Words Derived from Arabic
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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:
Ukrainian intelligence agent Vladyslav Reut says he did not kill Anastasiia Berezovska - a woman suspected of trying to assassinate a multimillionaire in Monaco - despite earlier confessing to it.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
The Church Committee recommended, and Congress subsequently enacted, dozens of sweeping reforms to foreign intelligence collection activities, as well as restraints on future efforts by the U.S. government to assassinate people.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2026
In 2025, replying to AFP's question, Putin said he did "not even wish to discuss" the idea Israel might assassinate Iran's Khamenei.
From Barron's ● Mar. 1, 2026
The HSCA’s link analysis about the Grapevine Tavern and its conclusion that the Ray family was deeply involved in the plan to assassinate King were never pursued by the Department of Justice.
From Slate ● Dec. 1, 2025
He was convinced that if anyone tried to assassinate him, these two stocky morons would be powerless to prevent it, but he trusted that their presence would at least scare off spontaneous detraaors.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
Ladies and Gentlemen: Fear is the dungeon of the mind, and superstition is a dagger with which hypocrisy assassinates the soul.
From Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll, Volume I Including His Answers to the Clergy, His Oration at His Brother's Grave, Etc., Etc. by Ingersoll, Robert Green
With his pen, as Cellini with his dagger, he assassinates; his cynicism serves him for a coat of armour.
From Renaissance in Italy Volume 3 The Fine Arts by Symonds, John Addington
It may seem a trifle scratchy fer the moment, but it assassinates the blood-p'ison.
From The Conquest of Canaan by Tarkington, Booth
"Hatred of lawlessness and the sort of meanness that assassinates and quarrels," was the quiet and surprising response.
From The Code of the Mountains by Buck, Charles Neville
Error endlessly assassinates itself in a futile effort to escape its immortality.
From Fantazius Mallare A Mysterious Oath by Smith, Wallace
Its last president was assassinated in 2021 and has not been replaced.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Marx was largely unknown outside of Colorado’s evangelical community before Charlie Kirk was assassinated last September.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026
After Lincoln’s death Herndon co-wrote an influential biography of the assassinated president in which he trashed Mary and declared that Lincoln’s only true love was Ann Rutledge, who had died in 1835.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
He was assassinated when she was only two years old, just before Myanmar gained independence from British colonial rule in 1948.
From BBC ● May 1, 2026
George had a close relationship with an Egyptian cousin, Henri Curiel, a leading Communist organizer who later moved to France and was assassinated in 1978, most likely for his political activities.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
The man accused of assassinating former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has apologised to the ex-leader's family for the first time.
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2025
A California review board on Wednesday denied parole to Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian refugee serving a life sentence for assassinating U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.
From Reuters ● Mar. 2, 2023
One of the pieces of information revealed was a psychological evaluation of Lee Harvey Oswald, who was arrested for assassinating John F. Kennedy.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2022
His clemency was among 18 commutations, 24 pardons and five reprieves announced by the governor on Thursday — the same day Newsom rejected parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2022
Their mission was to strike a blow against Austria and the Hapsburg monarchy by assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
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.
