massacre
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: massacres
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: massacer
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
form: massacres
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: massacring
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: massacred
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: massacred
pos: verb
tags: past
form: massacer
pos: verb
tags: alternative
archaic
Senses:
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
Massacres of Diyarbekir
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Amritsar Massacre
I'll find a day to massacre them all,
And raze their faction and their family
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.
gloss: Murder.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: The tyrannous and bloody act is done,—
The most arch deed of piteous massacre
That ever yet this land was guilty of.
gloss: Any overwhelming defeat, as in a game or sport.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
gloss: 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.)
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: If James should be pleased to massacre them all, as Maximilian had massacred the Theban legion
gloss: To win against (an opponent) very decisively.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
gloss: To perform (a work, such as a musical piece or a play) very poorly.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
gloss: To kill with great force or brutality.
pos: verb
tags: proscribed
transitive
examples: Look how they massacred my boy.
Related words: carnage
massacree
massacrer
mass murder
Derived words: massacrist
massacrous
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
unmassacred
Translations: