OTHER WORDS FOR kill
1 slaughter, massacre, butcher; hang, electrocute, behead, guillotine, strangle, garrote; assassinate.
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QUIZ YOURSELF ON "IS" VS. "ARE"
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Question 1 of 7
IS and ARE are both forms of which verb?
Idioms about kill
kill with kindness, to overdo in one's efforts to be kind: The aunts would kill their nephews and nieces with kindness.
Origin of kill
1First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English cullen, killen, kelle “to strike, beat, kill,” Old English cyllan (unattested); cognate with dialectal German küllen (Westphalian). Cf. quell
synonym study for kill
1. Kill, execute, murder all mean to deprive of life. Kill is the general word, with no implication of the manner of killing, the agent or cause, or the nature of what is killed (whether human being, animal, or plant): to kill a person. Execute is used with reference to the putting to death of one in accordance with a legal sentence, no matter what the means are: to execute a criminal. Murder is used of killing a human being unlawfully: He murdered him for his money.
OTHER WORDS FROM kill
kill·a·ble, adjectiveself-killed, adjectiveun·killed, adjectiveWords nearby kill
kilij, kilim, Kilimanjaro, Kilkenny, Kilkenny cats, kill, Killarney, killdee, killdeer, killed, Killeen
Other definitions for kill (2 of 2)
kill2
[ kil ]
/ kɪl /
noun Chiefly New York State.
Origin of kill
2An Americanism first recorded in 1660–70; from Dutch kil, Middle Dutch kille “channel”
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use kill in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for kill (1 of 2)
kill1
/ (kɪl) /
verb (mainly tr)
noun
Word Origin for kill
C13 cullen; perhaps related to Old English cwellan to kill; compare German (Westphalian dialect) küllen; see quell
British Dictionary definitions for kill (2 of 2)
kill2
/ (kɪl) /
noun
US a channel, stream, or river (chiefly as part of place names)
Word Origin for kill
C17: from Middle Dutch kille; compare Old Norse kīll small bay, creek
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Other Idioms and Phrases with kill
kill
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
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