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death march

American  
[deth mahrch] / ˈdɛθ ˌmɑrtʃ /

noun

  • death marches
    plural
  1. a forced journey on foot, usually over a long distance, under conditions that kill many of the people traveling, who are left to die when they can no longer walk.

  2. a forced journey on foot to the place where one is going to be killed.

  3. dead march.


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

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:

This wasn’t a walk as much as it was a death march.

From Los Angeles Times Oct. 25, 2025

Taken prisoner, he survived concentration camps and a death march before the end of World War II.

From BBC Oct. 24, 2025

That will include meeting Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg, aged 94, who experienced concentration camps and a death march.

From BBC Jan. 13, 2025

But watching them is hardly a death march — they're often sarcastic and focused on the weirder details of her former life, such as being told that girls and women never need haircuts:

From Salon Mar. 8, 2024

There was a slow drumbeat playing like a death march from the altar.

From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat

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