slaughter
noun
the killing or butchering of cattle, sheep, etc., especially for food.
slaughter
1 American
[slaw-ter]
/ ˈslɔ tər /
noun
-
slaughters
plural
-
the killing or butchering of cattle, sheep, etc., especially for food.
-
the brutal or violent killing of a person.
- Synonyms:
- murder
-
the killing of great numbers of people or animals indiscriminately; carnage.
the slaughter of war.
verb (used with object)
-
slaughters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slaughtered,
past participle, past
-
slaughtering
present participle
-
to kill or butcher (animals), especially for food.
-
to kill in a brutal or violent manner.
-
to slay in great numbers; massacre.
-
Informal. to defeat thoroughly; trounce.
They slaughtered our team.
Slaughter
2
American
[slaw-ter]
/ ˈslɔ tər /
noun
slaughter
British
/ ˈslɔːtə /
noun
-
the killing of animals, esp for food
-
the savage killing of a person
-
the indiscriminate or brutal killing of large numbers of people, as in war; massacre
-
informal a resounding defeat
verb
-
to kill (animals), esp for food
-
to kill in a brutal manner
-
to kill indiscriminately or in large numbers
-
informal to defeat resoundingly
slaughter
Idioms
Synonym Usage
Slaughter, butcher, massacre all imply violent and bloody methods of killing. Slaughter and butcher, primarily referring to the killing of animals for food, are used also of the brutal or indiscriminate killing of human beings: to slaughter cattle; to butcher a hog. Massacre indicates a general slaughtering of helpless or unresisting victims: to massacre the peasants of a region.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
slaughtersimple
-
slaughterssimple
-
have slaughteredperfect
-
has slaughteredperfect
-
am slaughteringprogressive
-
are slaughteringprogressive
-
is slaughteringprogressive
-
have been slaughteringperfect progressive
-
has been slaughteringperfect progressive
Past
-
slaughteredsimple
-
had slaughteredperfect
-
was slaughteringprogressive
-
were slaughteringprogressive
-
had been slaughteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slaughter
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English slaghter, slahter, slauther (noun), from Old Norse slātr, earlier slāttr, slahtr
Explanation
Slaughter refers to the killing of large numbers of animals or people. When cattle are old enough, they're sent to slaughter and their meat is processed and shipped to stores. The noun slaughter was first used in the 1300s and comes from the Old Norse word slahtr, which also described the mass killing of animals or people. A verb form came along later, in the 1530s. You might hear slaughter used to describe the killing of large numbers of people in a war, a genocide, or a massacre. It also can be used figuratively to describe a crushing defeat, like the slaughter of your basketball team by your bitter rivals.
Vocabulary lists containing slaughter
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act V
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"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act IV
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"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"
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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.
See Examples For:
Some subsequently appeared in the slaughter pipeline; inspection records showed mustangs ending up on trucks bound for Canadian slaughter plants.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
It separately aims to sell its Pasco, Wash., facility that can slaughter about 2,000 cattle a day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Mass or individual culls are generally restricted to notifiable disease control, welfare emergencies, or licensed slaughter.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Khan declined to directly address the allegations but said customers had largely been involved in the slaughter of animals they either brought themselves or purchased from him, with some assistance from employees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
Cows rescued from the slaughter could not have been happier.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Jake Slaughter starts at center for the Chargers and Trey Lance shows his speed, but miscues on special teams and defense lead to a preseason loss to the 49ers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Slaughter doesn’t sound overwhelmed about being thrust into the starting role.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
“I take it as a blessing that I can help the team in any way that I can,” Slaughter said about potentially starting at center if Biadasz is sidelined for an extended period of time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Nicholas Bednar and Max Sarinsky, came up with a few solutions that Congress could legislate without violating Slaughter, and I do think it’s worth lifting those up.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
“But it might chill him too much. We’d have to ask Dr. Slaughter first.”
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
Bigger chicken breeds and flocks staying free of disease over the summer led to a glut in an industry that slaughters more than nine billion birds a year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The June 26 complaint filed by Animal Outlook described slaughters captured on video by Scott David, the organization’s director of investigations, when he visited the ranch during its Eid al-Adha event.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
It typically slaughters roughly 8,250 hogs a day, said Steve Meyer, lead economist for Partners for Production Agriculture.
From Reuters ● Apr. 24, 2023
"Jerry Lee Lewis slaughters his rivals," it said, "in a 13-song set that feels like one long convulsion".
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2022
Fruit and slaughters are not usually combined, nor are gods and peasants.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Through the first six months of this year, companies slaughtered more than 4.9 billion chickens, up 3% from the same period last year and up 6% from five years ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Companies that haven’t beaten earnings estimates—and raised their outlooks—have “gotten slaughtered in this market,” says Nancy Tengler, CEO and CIO at Laffer Tengler Investments.
From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 2026
More than 120,000 eagles were slaughtered over the course of Alaska’s bounty system alone.
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2026
Baldwin wisecracked, fully aware that he was about to be slaughtered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2026
And no doubt she’s right.2 I always weep when the hogs are slaughtered.
From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz
“If anyone does have an idea of buying it for the purpose of what it’s being marketed as, for slaughtering animals, they’ll have a large contingent of public opposition,” Williamson said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2026
On Wall Street, the arrival of Thanksgiving means it’s time for tax-loss harvesting, the wholesale slaughtering of the market’s worst-performing stocks.
From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025
Business has been challenging for the companies responsible for slaughtering cattle and processing the meat into the steaks, ground beef, and roasts that line supermarket shelves and are sold at restaurants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
Muslims mark the event by slaughtering sheep or other animals and the meat is shared among family and donated to the poor.
From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2025
My cousin Paulina is turning three, so I can’t imagine that slaughtering and frying an animal would be very exciting for her, but that’s how parties always are.
From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez
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.
