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 have proposed reimbursing fishers or using acoustic deterrents instead of mass slaughter.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026
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
The human slaughter operation in the final area was stopped when a local farmer offered to buy some of the remaining cattle.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 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. 13, 2026
For Manolo, I lifted out the bad news like a fish bone, and gave him the promising tidbit—that the gringos were working with a group to slaughter the goat for the picnic.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
Slaughter is one of those rookies with a lot of responsibility.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
Slaughter, and then by wrestler-turned-governor Jesse “The Body” Ventura.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
Slaughter was supported by Plaid Cymru MS for Sir Fynwy Torfaen, Matthew Jones, who accused the committee of "not publicly or adequately" explaining its concerns.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
In a Senedd debate, Welsh Green leader Anthony Slaughter said patients were facing "unbearable limbo".
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Saturday morning, just as we sat down to breakfast, here came little Timmy Hopkins, saying Miz Blakeslee wanted Mr. Hoyt to ring up Dr. Slaughter.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
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
The company slaughters nearly 30 million hogs a year and is a major supplier of ham, bacon and other pork products to grocers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
"We condemn the resurgence of these mass slaughters and call on government to take its responsibility to secure lives and property very seriously or it should leave the stage."
From Reuters ● Dec. 20, 2022
"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
At the same time, while the number of cows being slaughtered has fallen, carcasses weigh more so there's been oversupply.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
About half of the cattle slaughtered at JBS’s Pennsylvania plant were trucked long distances, including from Iowa and Canada.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 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
Hyacinthus, they would say, died not slaughtered by his kinsfolk to get food for them, but only because of a sorrowful mistake.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
“I will never go into the meat slaughtering business,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2016.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
The government's policy of slaughtering entire herds where a single animal has been infected has run up against bitter opposition from two of the three main farmers' unions.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2025
As they grow up, tests include walking long distances barefoot, slaughtering cattle efficiently and showing kindness to fellow initiates.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2025
An H5N1 outbreak that recently infected five poultry workers and 1.8 million chickens in northeast Colorado may have been fueled in part by heat wave conditions and slaughtering methods, according to federal health authorities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2024
Joel insists on slaughtering chickens on the farm.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
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