electric chair

noun

1
: a chair used in legal electrocution
2
: the penalty of death by electrocution

Examples of electric chair in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
South Carolina inmates can choose their method of execution, with the electric chair and the firing squad as the other available options. Dakin Andone, CNN Money, 9 June 2025 Now, depending on where they're imprisoned, inmates have a virtual buffet of ways to die: firing squad, nitrogen gas, the electric chair and still, lethal injection. Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 6 June 2025 The State Legislature legalized executions by firing squad and electric chair in 2021, but it was blocked by a lower court the following year. Ben Brachfeld, People.com, 7 Mar. 2025 When lethal injections take place, a gurney is in the death chamber and behind it is a curtain that blocks the view of the electric chair and the firing squad chair. CBS News, 4 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for electric chair

Word History

First Known Use

1883, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of electric chair was in 1883

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Cite this Entry

“Electric chair.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/electric%20chair. Accessed 7 Jul. 2025.

Legal Definition

electric chair

noun
elec·​tric chair
1
: a chair used in performing a legal electrocution
2
: the penalty of death by electrocution

More from Merriam-Webster on electric chair

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