massacre
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmæs.ə.kə(ɹ)/
Forms: form: massacres
form: massacer
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”).
Senses: examples: text: St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
text: St. Valentine's Day Massacre
text: Amritsar Massacre
text: I'll find a day to massacre them all,
And raze their faction and their family
ref: c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:
text: The massacre that ripped apart 17 families in Parkland, Florida, five years ago on Valentine’s Day ignited a wave of student-led protests and bipartisan legislation to combat the plague of school shootings devastating the country.
ref: 2023 February 14, Holly Yan, “5 years after the Parkland school massacre claimed 17 lives, here’s what has changed (and what hasn’t)”, in CNN:
glosses: 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.
examples: text: The tyrannous and bloody act is done,—
The most arch deed of piteous massacre
That ever yet this land was guilty of.
ref: c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
glosses: Murder.
glosses: Any overwhelming defeat, as in a game or sport.
Synonyms: sense: mass killing contrary to civilized norms
word: butchery
sense: mass killing contrary to civilized norms
english: in the manner of livestock
translation: in the manner of livestock
word: slaughter
sense: mass killing contrary to civilized norms
alt: strictly an orderly selection of ⅒ of a group for slaughter; see its entry for other terms concerning other ratios
word: decimation
Hypernyms: sense: mass killing contrary to civilized norms
word: atrocity
sense: mass killing contrary to civilized norms
word: war crime
Derived terms: massacrist
massacrous
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
Related terms: carnage
massacree
massacrer
mass murder