assassinate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to kill suddenly or secretively, especially a prominent person; murder premeditatedly and treacherously.
- Synonyms:
- slay
-
to destroy or harm treacherously and viciously.
to assassinate a person's character.
verb
-
to murder (a person, esp a public or political figure), usually by a surprise attack
-
to ruin or harm (a person's reputation, etc) by slander
Other Word Forms
- assassination noun
- assassinative adjective
- assassinator noun
- unassassinated adjective
Etymology
Origin of assassinate
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.
“But the thing that’s most egregious to me is the message it sends to these children who are in the school that was created in my father’s name, at the site where he was assassinated.”
From Los Angeles Times
The assassinated mayor's widow, however, distanced her husband's movement from the demonstration on Saturday.
From Barron's
The assassinated mayor's widow, however, distanced her husband's movement from the protests on Saturday.
From Barron's
Naming his grandfather, who was assassinated in 1963, as his hero, Schlossberg told Vogue that JFK's administration was "a blueprint for how progressivism can work in America".
From BBC
A security source told the agency she had been assassinated because she had been accused of filming jihadists "for the Malian army".
From BBC
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.
