Synonyms

murderer

American

[mur-der-er] / ˈmɜr dər ər /

noun

a person who commits murder.

idioms

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

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."

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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.

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

What followed was an unlikely 20-year-long friendship with convicted murderer Roderick Orme, which evolved as the pair exchanged hundreds of letters and emails.

From BBC • Mar. 10, 2026

The book does advance one theory of who the murderer is.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 26, 2026

Alex in the kitchen, who, if he had believed what was usually said of him would have considered himself a murderer, found that he had a magic hand with biscuits.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023