massacre
Plural: massacres
Noun
- the savage and excessive killing of many people
- The killing of a considerable number (usually limited to people) where little or no resistance can be made, with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and/or contrary to civilized norms.
- Murder.
- Any overwhelming defeat, as in a game or sport.
Verb
Verb Forms: massacred, massacring, massacres
- To brutally kill a large number of people or animals.
- kill a large number of people indiscriminately
- "The Hutus massacred the Tutsis in Rwanda"
- To kill in considerable numbers where little or no resistance can be made, with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and contrary to civilized norms. (Often limited to the killing of human beings.)
- To win against (an opponent) very decisively.
- To perform (a work, such as a musical piece or a play) very poorly.
- To kill with great force or brutality.
Examples
- His strategic seven-letter word on a triple-word score seemed to MASSACRE his opponent’s lead.
Origin / Etymology
1580, from Middle French massacre, from Old French macacre, marcacre, macecre, macecle (“slaughterhouse, butchery”), usually thought to be deverbal from Old French macecrer, macecler (“to slaughter”), though the noun seems to be attested somewhat earlier. It is also found in Medieval Latin mazacrium (“massacre, slaughter, killing”, also “the head of a newly killed stag”). Further origin disputed:
* From Latin macellum (“butcher shop”).
* From Vulgar Latin *matteuculāre, from *matteuca (cf. massue), from Late Latin mattea, mattia, from Latin mateola.
* From Middle Low German *matskelen (“to massacre”) (compare German metzeln (“massacre”)), frequentative of matsken, matzgen (“to cut, hew”), from Proto-West Germanic *maitan, from Proto-Germanic *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“small”). Akin to Old High German meizan (“to cut”) among others.
* Note also Arabic مَجْزَرَة (majzara), originally “spot where animals are slaughtered”, now also “massacre”, and in Maghrebi Arabic “slaughterhouse”. Derived from جَزَرَ (jazara, “to cut, slaughter”).
Synonyms
butchery, carnage, mass murder, mow down, slaughter, decimation
Scrabble Score: 12
massacre: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordmassacre: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
massacre: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary