slasher

[ slash-er ]

/ ˈslæʃ ər /

Save This Word!

noun

a person or thing that slashes.

a person who criminally attacks others with a knife, razor, or the like.

a horror film depicting such a criminal and featuring gory special effects.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of slasher

First recorded in 1550–60; slash¹ + -er¹

Words nearby slasher

slap-up, slart, slash, slash-and-burn, Slashdot effect, slasher, slasher movie, slashfest, slash fiction, slashing, slash pine

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use slasher in a sentence

However, they have to respect the slasher films that came before to solve a new mystery.
A Spoiler-Filled Breakdown of the New Scream|Shannon Carlin|January 14, 2022|Time
At their core, the Scream movies aren’t teen slasher films, but are bloodsoaked whodunnits in which anyone and everyone is a possible suspect.
A Spoiler-Filled Breakdown of the New Scream|Shannon Carlin|January 14, 2022|Time
Gone, for the most part, was the particular magic of the unreflective slasher flick, and its stranglehold on the public imagination.
The age of monsters|Chris Chafin|October 29, 2021|Vox
Until Dawn is the closest that video games have come to a playable slasher film.
5 scary games to play this Halloween|Will Fulton|October 15, 2021|Popular-Science

This makes for some skillfully paced, pop-culturally literate, yet quite generic, slasher fare.
Netflix's Fear Street Trilogy Is Generic Straight-to-VHS Horror With Nostalgic Flair|Judy Berman|July 7, 2021|Time
The slasher film series Friday the 13th is well known for its homicidal tendencies.
How to Save Silent Movies: Inside New Jersey’s Cinema Paradiso|Rich Goldstein|October 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Halloween also helped spawn the slasher film genre, and provided the genre with many of its tropes.
The Week in Nostalgia: ‘Halloween’ Turns 35, Butch and Sundance Debut, and the iPod is Born (VIDEO)|Chancellor Agard|October 26, 2013|DAILY BEAST
For a generation raised on slasher flicks and fountains of gibbering gore this film would be an Ativan.
Carsten Stroud’s Book Bag: My Top Five Horror Classics|Carsten Stroud|July 23, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Several days earlier, the Chinese Twitter-like microblog called Weibo had circulated reports of a serial subway slasher.
Not Just Sandy Hook: China’s Terrifying Knife Attacks|Melinda Liu|December 15, 2012|DAILY BEAST
However reactionary a sycophant to rich people and slasher of programs for others he might be, he is the governor.
Conservatives and Rock and Roll|Michael Tomasky|June 22, 2012|DAILY BEAST
There must be a splendid operation, though, to-morrow—magnificent sight if Slasher does it.'
The Pickwick Papers|Charles Dickens
But there must be a splendid operation, though, on the morrow—magnificent sight if Slasher did it!
Charles Dickens as a Reader|Charles Kent
"We'll act here;" and all, even the Valiant Slasher, pressed in as quickly as possible.
The Peace Egg and Other tales|Juliana Horatia Ewing
Yes, Slasher, thou hadst better go, Else the next time he'll pierce thee through.
The Peace Egg and Other tales|Juliana Horatia Ewing
I cull these flowers of speech from a wreath placed by a critic of the Slasher on my own early brow.
Some Private Views|James Payn

British Dictionary definitions for slasher

slasher

/ (ˈslæʃə) /

noun

a person or thing that slashes

Australian and NZ a wooden-handled cutting tool or tractor-drawn machine used for cutting scrub or undergrowth in the bush

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012