- present participle of kill.
killing
Americannoun
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the act of a person or thing that kills.
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the total game killed on a hunt.
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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
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Tuberculosis was a killing disease well into the 20th century, and society found itself with few remedies.
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exhausting.
An ever-expanding workload is imperceptible at first, but eventually we're operating at a killing pace.
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Informal. irresistibly funny.
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Slang. very attractive or fascinating.
The actress is known for her outstanding beauty and killing smile.
adjective
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informal very tiring; exhausting
a killing pace
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informal extremely funny; hilarious
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causing death; fatal
noun
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the act of causing death; slaying
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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.
Floyd's killing sparked protests across the United States and around the world.
From BBC • Jun. 18, 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
Some retail investors, like this videogame aficionado, made a killing, but there are reasons to take a sobering look at AI.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 16, 2026
The strength of hundreds of men—motivated by the pharaoh and the fear of killing his son—was somehow overcoming the weight of the obelisk.
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
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.
