killing field
Americannoun
-
a site of indiscriminate and cruel killing of large numbers of people, especially a place of wartime genocide.
The concentration camps of Germany and the killing fields of Cambodia are graphic displays of the presence of evil in our world.
-
a dangerous place where an excessive number of people have died, as by murder, riots, or drug overdose.
Some 300 lives are violently ended each year on the killing fields of New York's streets and sidewalks, about half of them pedestrians or cyclists.
Etymology
Origin of killing field
First recorded in 1980–85
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.
“Looking back on it, perhaps it was a vision of turning blood into wine, killing fields into vineyards and hatred into love,” Kühn said in an interview last week.
From Seattle Times
“The killing field is across the street from my driveway entrance,” said Bonnie Lynn, the founder of Yellowstone Voices, which campaigns against the hunt.
From New York Times
At other times, he writes about Newhallville as if it’s a lawless killing field: “Bobby had no after-school activities in his neighborhood, no tutoring sessions, no open gyms, no library.”
From Washington Post
He rose to prominence in the 1980s, after the defeat of the Khmer Rouge "killing fields" regime, and cemented his hold on power in the 1990s.
From Reuters
In a primetime speech to the nation from the White House, Mr Biden said too many everyday places in America had become killing fields.
From BBC
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.