body count

noun

Updated on: 17 Apr 2018

Definition of body count

1 : a count of the bodies of killed enemy soldiers

2 : the number of persons involved in a particular activity

See body count defined for English-language learners

Examples of body count in a Sentence

The rising body count fueled opposition to the war.

Recent Examples of body count from the Web

With a body count that is impossible to calculate, does Kratos even deserve redemption?

— andrew webster, The Verge, "God of War review: an incredible reimagining of a PlayStation icon," 12 Apr. 2018
An Irish hit man and his protégé (Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell) cool their heels in Belgium after a killing goes slightly awry, although trouble soon finds them, along with a body count of Shakespearean proportions.

— charles bramesco, New York Times, "The Little Lebowskis: 10 Righteous Heirs to a Coen Brothers’ Classic," 6 Mar. 2018
That person would also amass a far lower body count.

— anne branigin, The Root, "Fox News Response to School Shooting Is to Praise the AR-15," 15 Feb. 2018
At least 34 people were killed by gunfire, including 23 police officers, the government alleged, though the numbers were disputed by both indigenous groups and the government, each accusing each other of inflating the body count for their side.

— alex horton, Washington Post, "A bus crash killed 48. What happened at Peru’s other Devil’s Curve might have been worse.," 3 Jan. 2018
That's something, and these approaches are almost always a better response than armed conflict, which is expensive, removes people from the labor market and racks up body counts.

— Scientific American, "Readers Respond to the December 2017 Issue," 1 Dec. 2017
Included in the body count were the first three chasers ever to die in a storm: Carl Young, Paul Samaras, and Paul’s father, Tim.

— joseph bien-kahn, Outside Online, "Can We Ever Understand the Mind of a Stormchaser?," 30 Mar. 2018
The result: While property damage in Washington was worse or nearly as bad as the destruction during previous urban riots in 1960s America, the body count was relatively low, with 13 deaths attributed to the unrest.

— paul duggan, Washington Post, "After bloodshed in earlier U.S. riots, D.C. police showed restraint in 1968 unrest," 26 Mar. 2018
Initially, silliness balances sentimentality; later in the season, when the series turns somber to confront its body count, there is nothing maudlin in its picture of self-reckoning.

— rachel aviv, The New Yorker, "The Goofy and Dead-Serious Profundity of Bill Hader in “Barry”," 24 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'body count.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of body count

1962

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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BODY COUNT Defined for English Language Learners

body count

noun

Definition of body count for English Language Learners

: the number of people killed in a war, disaster, etc.

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