- present participle of kill.
killing
Americannoun
-
the act of a person or thing that kills.
-
the total game killed on a hunt.
-
Informal. a quick and unusually large profit or financial gain.
We would all like to win the lottery or make a killing in the stock market.
adjective
-
Tuberculosis was a killing disease well into the 20th century, and society found itself with few remedies.
-
exhausting.
An ever-expanding workload is imperceptible at first, but eventually we're operating at a killing pace.
-
Informal. irresistibly funny.
-
Slang. very attractive or fascinating.
The actress is known for her outstanding beauty and killing smile.
adjective
-
informal very tiring; exhausting
a killing pace
-
informal extremely funny; hilarious
-
causing death; fatal
noun
-
the act of causing death; slaying
-
informal a sudden stroke of success, usually financial, as in speculations on the stock market (esp in the phrase make a killing )
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of killing
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English killing(e), kyllyng(e) (gerund); see kill 1, -ing 1, -ing 2
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.
By using a psychiatric defence argument, Mangione would have essentially admitted to killing Thompson with mitigating circumstances, legal expert Richard Schoenstein told CBS.
From BBC • Jun. 19, 2026
A study published in Nature found that plague was already killing people 5,500 years ago in small hunter-gatherer groups, thousands of years before farming communities and cities emerged.
From Science Daily • Jun. 18, 2026
Luigi Mangione will mount a psychiatric defense at his New York state trial for the killing of UnitedHealthcare Chief Executive Brian Thompson, a judge said Wednesday.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 17, 2026
Bezos also said fears about AI killing jobs were misplaced.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 17, 2026
Just twenty-one years after World War I ended, World War II erupted, killing four times as many people.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
