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

The brother of Natalie McNally has said an appeal by her murderer, Stephen McCullagh, against his 31-year sentence is re-traumatising for her family.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 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

But their attitude had changed since they had found out that Harry had a dangerous murderer for a godfather — for Harry had conveniently forgotten to tell them that Sirius was innocent.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling

Pilot schemes have been carried out with young offenders at HMP Polmont, female prisoners at HMP Stirling, and at HMP Low Moss, which holds almost 900 inmates, including convicted murderers.

From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2026

“We will not let rioters or agitators slow us down from removing murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists,” Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2026

The moment Alan Cumming taps Rob Rausch to join his secret circle of murderers in the fourth season premiere of “The Traitors,” a faint grin crosses what we can see of Rausch’s half-obscured face.

From Salon ● Jan. 28, 2026

James Meredith enrolled at Ole Miss; African-Americans secured the right to vote; the march to Montgomery, was completed and a Mississippi jury convicted the Neshoba murderers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 26, 2026

“You know they shot her cells into murderers in prison?”

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Related Words

• assassin
• executioner