holocaust

[ hol-uh-kawst, hoh-luh- ]

/ ˈhɒl əˌkɔst, ˈhoʊ lə- /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR holocaust ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a great or complete devastation or destruction, especially by fire.

a sacrifice completely consumed by fire; burnt offering.

(usually initial capital letter) the systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II (usually preceded by the).

any mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life.

Words nearby holocaust

holo-, holobenthic, holoblastic, holocaine, holocarpic, holocaust, holocene, holocord, holocrine, holocrine gland, holocrystalline

Origin of holocaust

1200–50; Middle English < Late Latin holocaustum (Vulgate) < Greek holókauston (Septuagint), neuter of holókaustos burnt whole. See holo-, caustic

SYNONYMS FOR holocaust

1 inferno, conflagration, ruin, havoc, ravage.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR holocaust ON THESAURUS.COM

OTHER WORDS FROM holocaust

hol·o·caus·tal, adjectivehol·o·caus·tic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for holocaust

Several of them disputed the figure of six million Jewish deaths in the Holocaust.
The Louisiana Racists Who Courted Steve Scalise|Jason Berry|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
However, Brunner was not the only perpetrator of the Holocaust mooching around the streets of the Syrian capital.
Hitler’s Henchmen in Arabia|Guy Walters|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That word “denialism” is particularly profane, with its unsubtle invocation of the Holocaust.
Why It Was Right to Question Rolling Stone’s U-VA Rape Story|Michael Moynihan|December 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Belzberg had grown up learning about WWII and visiting Holocaust museums since she was a young girl.
The Man Who Invented the Word ‘Genocide’|Nina Strochlic|November 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST

In a candid interview, she compares the brutality of life in North Korea to the Holocaust.
How ‘Titanic ’Helped This Brave Young Woman Escape North Korea’s Totalitarian State|Lizzie Crocker|October 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And Abraham said: God will provide himself a victim for an holocaust, my son.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
He thought apparently that this holocaust shed some lustre on these unfortunate princes, for he accorded to them a State funeral.
The Turkish Empire, its Growth and Decay|Lord Eversley
I gripped my head with both hands, and, for the hundredth time, sought the truth that lay buried in the holocaust of the nations….
The Blower of Bubbles|Arthur Beverley Baxter
But the holocaust to strategy resulted in humiliating the North and in heaping glory on the Southern leaders.
Diary from March 4, 1861, to November 12, 1862|Adam Gurowski
One of that now hated race would figure herein at his own holocaust.
A Veldt Official|Bertram Mitford

British Dictionary definitions for holocaust

holocaust

/ (ˈhɒləˌkɔːst) /

noun

great destruction or loss of life or the source of such destruction, esp fire

Also called: the Churban, the Shoah (usually capital) the mass murder of Jews and members of many other ethnic, social, and political groups in continental Europe between 1940 and 1945 by the Nazi regime

a rare word for burnt offering

Derived forms of holocaust

holocaustal or holocaustic, adjective

Word Origin for holocaust

C13: from Late Latin holocaustum whole burnt offering, from Greek holokauston, from holo- + kaustos, from kaiein to burn

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for holocaust

Holocaust

[ (hol-uh-kawst, hoh-luh-kawst) ]

The killing of some six million Jews (see also Jews) by the Nazis during World War II. To the Nazis, the Holocaust was the “Final Solution” to the “Jewish problem,” and would help them establish a pure German master race. Much of the killing took place in concentration camps, such as Auschwitz and Dachau. (See Adolf Eichmann and Heinrich Himmler.)

holocaust

noun

Words related to holocaust

Words nearby holocaust

Origin of holocaust

SYNONYMS FOR holocaust

OTHER WORDS FROM holocaust

Examples from the Web for holocaust

British Dictionary definitions for holocaust

noun

Derived forms of holocaust

Word Origin for holocaust

Cultural definitions for holocaust