holocaust

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

noun

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

   Synonyms: ravage, havoc, ruin, conflagration, inferno

2. a sacrifice completely consumed by fire; burnt offering.
3. Usually the Holocaust. the systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
4. any mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life.

holocaust

/ ˈhɒləˌkɔːst /

noun

1. great destruction or loss of life or the source of such destruction, esp fire
2. Also calledthe Churbanthe 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
3. See burnt offering
   a rare word for burnt offering

Holocaust

1. 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 .)

Derived Forms

• ˌholoˈcaustal, adjective

Other Words From

• hol·o·caus·tal adjective
• hol·o·caus·tic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of holocaust¹

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English, from Late Latin holocaustum (Vulgate), from Greek holókauston (Septuagint), neuter of holókaustos “burnt whole”; holo-, caustic

Word History and Origins

Origin of holocaust¹

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

Example Sentences

Several of them disputed the figure of six million Jewish deaths in the Holocaust.

From The Daily Beast

In the Jewish community, Christians who saved Jews from the Holocaust are known as “righteous gentiles.”

From The Daily Beast

However, Brunner was not the only perpetrator of the Holocaust mooching around the streets of the Syrian capital.

From The Daily Beast

That word “denialism” is particularly profane, with its unsubtle invocation of the Holocaust.

From The Daily Beast

Belzberg had grown up learning about WWII and visiting Holocaust museums since she was a young girl.

From The Daily Beast

He shall offer the lamb, and the sacrifice, and the oil morning by morning: an everlasting holocaust.

From Project Gutenberg

Next day the ceremony was to be continued by a holocaust of pigs.

From Project Gutenberg

What difference between the holocaust of a witch and that of two vile criminals?

From Project Gutenberg

Indeed, it was the grave of the soldier boy who had been the first to fall in the terrible holocaust of war.

From Project Gutenberg

At a guess, McAllen had constructed it as a secure personal retreat in the event of something like a nuclear holocaust.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• immolation
• inferno