massacre
Americannoun
-
massacres
plural
-
the unnecessary, indiscriminate killing of a large number of human beings or animals, as in barbarous warfare or persecution or for revenge or plunder.
- Synonyms:
- genocide, butchery, extermination, carnage
-
a general slaughter, as of persons or animals.
the massacre of millions during the war.
- Synonyms:
- genocide, butchery, extermination, carnage
-
Informal. a crushing defeat, especially in sports.
verb (used with object)
-
massacres,
present (3rd person singular)
-
massacred,
past participle, past
-
massacring
present participle
-
to kill unnecessarily and indiscriminately, especially a large number of persons.
- Synonyms:
- slay
-
Informal. to defeat decisively, especially in sports.
noun
-
the wanton or savage killing of large numbers of people, as in battle
-
informal an overwhelming defeat, as in a game
verb
-
to kill indiscriminately or in large numbers
-
informal to defeat overwhelmingly
Usage
What does massacre mean? A massacre is a large-scale killing of people or animals, especially defenseless ones. The word implies that such a killing was especially unnecessary, brutal, and indiscriminate. An event in which soldiers kill many civilians could be called a massacre. Mass shootings are massacres. Massacre can also be used in a more general way to refer to killing on a large-scale, as in This war will result in the massacre of millions. Massacre can also be used as a verb in both of these senses, as in The flock was massacred by the pack of wolves. Massacre is also used figuratively as a noun and a verb in the context of a decisive defeat, especially a one-sided sporting event, as in It was a massacre—we lost 12-0. Example: Every day, the news tells us of yet another massacre of innocent people by a person with a gun.
Synonym Usage
See slaughter.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
massacresimple
-
massacressimple
-
have massacredperfect
-
has massacredperfect
-
am massacringprogressive
-
are massacringprogressive
-
is massacringprogressive
-
have been massacringperfect progressive
-
has been massacringperfect progressive
Past
-
massacredsimple
-
had massacredperfect
-
was massacringprogressive
-
were massacringprogressive
-
had been massacringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of massacre
First recorded in 1575–85; (noun), from Middle French massacre, noun derivative of massacrer, Old French maçacrer, macecler, probably from unattested Vulgar Latin matteūcculāre, verbal derivative of unattested matteūca “mallet” ( see mashie, mace 1); (verb) from Middle French massacrer
Explanation
A massacre is a big bloody mess of killing, and usually for no good reason. Not that there’s ever a good reason for killing, but massacres are especially pointless and gory. It’s unclear where the word massacre came from, but possibly it was the Old French word macacre, which means “slaughterhouse.” As a noun, massacre is a brutal slaughter of humans or animals, and it can be a verb as well, like when an army massacres an entire village of innocent people. Pronounce it like MASS-uh-ker, and remember to spell it with an acre at the end, which is how much land is needed to bury the bodies after a massacre.
Vocabulary lists containing massacre
This Week in Words: November 4 - 10, 2017
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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The American Revolution - Middle School and High School
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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.
See Examples For:
To survivors of the Srebrenica massacre, the death of former Bosnian Serb military leader and war criminal Ratko Mladic changes little about his legacy.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
Damon’s Odysseus is numbed by the massacre of Troy’s civilians; Fiennes’ hates himself for leading the best men of Ithaca to their death, gutting his own community in the heedless destruction of another.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
If weekend warriors can’t slay zombies on a dystopian battlefield, at least they can massacre dandelions in their backyards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Swift previously described how her record-breaking Eras Tour had narrowly "dodged a massacre situation".
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
“If you want to put it that way. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for my country—no sacrifice too great to keep my people alive and out of slavery, to keep another massacre from happening.”
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
Its leaders rejected emigration to Palestine and, after the pogroms and massacres that accompanied Russia’s collapse, went into exile or were crushed by the Soviets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The 57-year-old said he had been studying in Zurich when the war broke out, and had been driven to return to Kosovo after seeing massacres of ethnic Albanians in his country.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
No one really believes Mr. Museveni is a Good Guy, however much he may have opened up Uganda to—gasp!—“international capital,” a worse sin, in Mr. Mamdani’s eyes, than any of the massacres Amin committed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025
But a woman who survived one of the massacres has appeared on Algerian television, alleging that the book’s heroine – named Fajr – is based on her own personal story.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2024
Soon after the August massacres, he was hit by a volley of paranoid hallucinations.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The tension on “The French Chef” was about a massacred bûche de noël or whether that roast-chicken-to-come was being abused.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
During a session on Iran's record, Bahreini urged the UN's top rights body to instead discuss the Iranian cultural heritage under "indiscriminate" attack and "the innocent children massacred at their school desks".
From Barron's ● Mar. 16, 2026
We’re living in such a different time with social media now, but back then, thanks to these brave journalists, there were physical representations of civilians being massacred, innocent families.
From Salon ● May 20, 2024
Then the Virgin Mary, in a voice brimming with anguish and outrage, memorializes the student protesters who were massacred by Mexican armed forces in 1968.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 18, 2024
He knew he’d been massacred by the oncoming players, capsized and dumped humiliatingly on the ground.
From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier
The Sri Lankan army spokesman, Brigadier Waruna Gamage rejects allegations that security forces buried civilians after massacring them.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
But in 2024, officials confirmed that the virus had jumped from birds to cows to humans, all while massacring millions of wild animals and tearing through dairy and poultry farms across the country.
From Salon ● Jan. 8, 2025
She made it sound as if they were massacring endangered baby eagles.
From Slate ● Feb. 16, 2019
“Yes, Uber is bringing in new technology. Yes, it’s creating jobs. But at what cost? The cost of massacring others through unfair competition.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 3, 2015
Sloe is one of those dogs that cannot resist temptation, and although she has often been whipped and scolded for massacring rabbits, never listens to the voice of conscience.
From The Empire Annual for Girls, 1911 by A. R. (Augustus Robert) Buckland
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