genocide

[jen-uh-sahyd]

noun

1. the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

genocide

/ ˈdʒɛnəʊˌsaɪd /

noun

1. the policy of deliberately killing a nationality or ethnic group

genocide

1. The deliberate destruction of an entire race or nation. The Holocaust conducted by the Nazis in Germany and the Rwandan genocide are examples of attempts at genocide.

Other Word Forms

• genocidal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of genocide¹

First recorded in 1940–45; from Greek géno(s) “race” + -cide

Word History and Origins

Origin of genocide¹

C20: from geno-, from Greek genos race + _-cide

Example Sentences

"Who can accept the genocide that has been going on in the Gaza Strip for so long?"

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The horrific brutality of the Nazi occupation regime there, especially the genocide of the Jews, is described by Mr. Hellbeck in harrowing detail.

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Spain's top criminal court said Friday it had opened an investigation for alleged complicity in crimes against humanity or genocide into executives at the steelmaker Sidenor for trading with an Israeli arms company.

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For millennia, human history has consisted of repeated episodes of one group of people displacing another through expulsion, subjugation, genocide or other means.

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Mamdani has been a critic of Israeli government policies and has accused the country of committing genocide in Gaza.

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Related Words

• carnage 
• mass murder 
• massacre 
• slaughter