massacre

1 of 3

noun (1)

mas·​sa·​cre ˈma-si-kər 

1

: the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty

witnessed the massacre of a boatload of refugees

2

: a cruel or wanton (see wanton entry 1 sense 1a) murder

3

: a wholesale slaughter of animals

Residents engaged in a citywide cat massacre.

4

: an act of complete destruction

… the author's massacre of traditional federalist presuppositions.

—R. G. McCloskey

the Puritan massacre of statues and pictures

—Robert Hughes

massacre

2 of 3

verb

massacred; massacring ˈma-si-k(ə-)riŋ 

transitive verb

1

: to kill by massacre

2

: mangle sense 2

… words were misspelled and syntax massacred.

—Bice Clemow

massacrer

ˈma-si-kər-ər 

-krər

noun

massacrer

3 of 3

noun (2)

mas·​sa·​crer -k(ə)rə(r) 

plural -s

: a person who massacres

Synonyms of massacre

Noun (1)

• slaughter

Verb

• slaughter

Examples of massacre in a Sentence

Noun (1)

The game turned out to be a complete massacre.

the infamous massacre of more than 200 Sioux at Wounded Knee, South Dakota

Verb

Hundreds have been massacred in the uprising.

The other team really massacred us on Saturday.

He really massacred that song.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Publicity about the Zong massacre helped fuel the campaign to end slavery in the British Empire. — ABC News, 7 Sep. 2026

Who knows more of the injustice of the world than the girl who saw her town seized by a white-supremacist coup, the Wilmington massacre, in 1898? — Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2026

Verb

The people in Silo 17 were brutally massacred by the members of Silo 1. — Kelly Allen, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2026

The latest planeload landed last week, four days after armed gangs massacred dozens of people in the hills above Port-au-Prince. — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1) and Verb

Middle French

First Known Use

Noun (1)

circa 1578, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1581, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

massacre

1 of 2 verb

mas·​sa·​cre ˈmas-i-kər 

massacred; massacring

-k(ə-)riŋ

: to kill in a massacre : slaughter

massacrer

-i-kər-ər, 

-i-krər

noun

massacre

2 of 2 noun

: the violent and cruel killing of a number of persons