massacre

1 of 2

noun

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 2

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

Synonyms

Noun

• slaughter

Verb

• slaughter

Examples of massacre in a Sentence

Noun

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

Australia has designated Hamas a terrorist entity and Albanese repeated Monday his government's calls for the group to return Israeli hostages held since the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre. —Bradford Betz, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2025

Some Israelis on the left are more aware of this now, but the open wound of both the massacre itself and those twenty live hostages and thirty bodies kept remain obsessions. —Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2025

Verb

There are two shots of what appears to be the famous Trojan Horse — Odysseus’ master plan to sneak Greek soldiers into Troy, massacre the soldiers and sack the city to win the war. —Jordan Moreau, Variety, 1 July 2025

Husseini repaid these favors by inciting more anti-Jewish riots, notably in Hebron in 1929, in which 67 Jews were massacred and hundreds more were injured. —Sean Durns, The Washington Examiner, 6 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle French

First Known Use

Noun

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