murderer

American  

[mur-der-er] / ˈmɜr dər ər /

noun

• murderers
  plural

1. a person who commits murder.

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idioms

1. murderers' row,

   1. the row of cells in a prison where murderers and other violent or hard-core criminals are held.

   2. Baseball. a succession of heavy hitters scheduled to bat one after the other.

   3. any group of notorious or important people.

      a murderers' row of talent;

      a murderers' row of philosophers.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-murderer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• murderers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of murderer

1300–50; Middle English mortherer, mord ( e ) rer; see murder, -er ¹

Explanation

If you’re looking for a roommate and someone writes murderer under “occupation,” you should definitely keep looking. A murderer is a person who kills deliberately and without justification. In some instances, killing a person is considered a just or valid action — in a war, a soldier who kills another soldier is not considered to be a murderer, and people who kill in self-defense, to save themselves, are also not murderers. Killing out of anger or for money or revenge is murder, and anyone who does it is a murderer. Charles Manson is in jail for being a murderer. The Old English root of murderer is morðor, "unlawful killing."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

murderer murderers

Nicolas Winding Refn directs this inscrutable yet mesmerizing thriller that follows the converging stories of an actress, an American G.I., and a mysterious murderer called the Leather Man.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Four centuries later, a Maltese minister leases a villa once used by a different murderer on the run and says he does not know who that murderer is.

From Slate ● Jun. 6, 2026

With the help of the flock, Lily eventually weeds out George’s murderer among the colorful townspeople, but not before “The Sheep Detectives” lands a couple of remarkable gut punches.

From Salon ● May 25, 2026

Reprising his Olivier-nominated London performance, Brody plays Nick Yarris, the convicted murderer who spent more than 21 years on death row before being exonerated for a crime he didn’t commit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026

In just a few weeks, the spirit had answered so many questions so accurately that residents felt responsible for finding the peddler’s murderer.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Still, she imposed what Norman Podhoretz called an “inordinate demand”: that Jews under Hitler be braver and nobler than ordinary people could be expected to be when murderers held all the power.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Kelly Newman, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said after the sentencing: "Those who seek to help murderers evade justice should be in no doubt that they too will be held accountable for their actions."

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

"China supports Thailand in conducting the trial in accordance with the law and severely punishing the murderers."

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

California’s elderly parole program does not automatically exclude murderers or sex offenders.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026

Which was strange, because just minutes earlier he had been acting like we were all murderers for not crying our eyes out.

From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson

Related Words

• assassin
• executioner