hit man

Or hitman

noun

Slang.

1. a hired killer, especially a professional killer from the underworld.

2. hatchet man.

hit man

noun

1. slang,  a hired assassin, esp one employed by gangsters

Word History and Origins

Origin of hit man¹

An Americanism dating back to 1965–70

Example Sentences

A hit man shot the mayor at point-blank range in a crowded city square.

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We think not — this one was executed as smoothly as a hit man’s bullet fired into a mutant monster.

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Two men accused of conspiring to hire a hit man to kill the estranged wife of one of them have been found not guilty.

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Cotrona, draws on the kind of “John Wick”-style story that the action franchise perfected when it posed the question: What if there was a bounty on a hit man’s head?

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One email included screenshots of a text conversation about paying a hit man $15,000 to kill the wife.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• assassin 
• gunman 
• hit woman www.thesaurus.com
• murderer 
• sniper