butchery
Americannoun
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butcheries
plural
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a slaughterhouse.
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brutal or wanton slaughter of animals or humans; carnage.
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the trade or business of a butcher.
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the act of bungling or botching.
noun
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the business or work of a butcher
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wanton and indiscriminate slaughter; carnage
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a less common word for slaughterhouse
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of butchery
1300–50; Middle English bocherie < Anglo-French, Middle French boucherie. See butcher, -y 3
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:
"We are a butchery, fishmonger, a deli for your fruits, veg, local breads, honies, jams, preserves," he said.
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026
Kakuta's restaurant has its own butchery, supplying bear meat dishes to a nearby hotel.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025
The building’s large main kitchen accommodates multiple classes, among them production baking and butchery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2025
It was there that I came to see the possibilities in a robust whole-animal butchery program and a more radical approach to sourcing ingredients.
From Salon ● Feb. 4, 2025
The butchery continued into 1864, as Abraham Lincoln was reelected after securing the helpful endorsement of abolitionist hero Frederick Douglass.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Bennett-Parker said she researched some of Mused’s 14 other butcheries, calling neighbors and even visiting Philadelphia.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 27, 2019
Horse-eating, or hippophagy, became popular in Europe in the 19th century, when famines caused several governments to license horse butcheries.
From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2011
We hold back from the leap of despair that would let us see that human society always carries within it the capacity to commit such butcheries and think well of itself.
From Time Magazine Archive
He wants to exorcise the great butcheries of humanity.
From Time Magazine Archive
With Apologies to William Blake Tiger, tiger of the seas, King of scarlet butcheries, What infernal hand and eye Planned your dread machinery?
From Songs for a Little House by Christopher Morley
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
