body count

noun

|Updated on: 6 Aug 2018

Examples: body count in a Sentence

Definition of body count

1 : a count of the bodies of killed enemy soldiers

2 : the number of persons involved in a particular activity

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Examples of body count in a Sentence

The rising body count fueled opposition to the war.

Recent Examples of body count from the Web

By 1976, the race's body count put it out of favor with many mainstream international racing organizations.

— kyle swenson, chicagotribune.com, "Motorcycle racing's 'most dangerous' event is underway and a rider is already dead," 1 June 2018
And while that might sound a tad ontological for fans of pulp fictions with high body counts, rest assured that the God invoked here is definitely one of vengeance.

— ben brantley, New York Times, "Review: ‘Is God Is’ Reinvents the Good, the Bad and the Ugly," 18 Feb. 2018
Though praised for weakening the FARC and drawing record foreign investment, Uribe has also been blamed for the military's killing of thousands of civilians who were falsely portrayed as rebels to inflate body counts.

— christine armario and joshua goodman, The Christian Science Monitor, "Colombia's president-elect appeals for unity after runoff election," 18 June 2018
In the mid-1990s, the annual murder rate in Orange surpassed the yearly body count in South-Central Los Angeles, the drive-by capital of the country.

— Longreads, "The Cold War and its Fallout," 16 June 2018
But few people today know about her contemporary Belle Gunness, who far surpassed Borden’s body count and who was also, if these things can be judged, far more brutal.

— howard schneider, WSJ, "‘Hell’s Princess’ Review: A Butcher Named Belle," 18 May 2018
As the body count in Southeast Asia grows, Americans take to the streets.

— michael s. rosenwald, Washington Post, "1968’s chaos: The assassinations, riots and protests that defined our world," 1 Jan. 2018
As the body count piled up, a scrappy affair dragged into extra time as the jeopardy stakes doubled tenfold.

— SI.com, "World Cup Countdown: 4 Days to Go - When Oranje Ditched Total Football in 2010 to Near-Perfection," 10 June 2018
So anything that slows their bird body count is a good step.

— amanda castleman, Good Housekeeping, "This $10 Accessory Will Stop Your Cat Killing Wild Birds," 23 Aug. 2017

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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