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 of massacre

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

At the Church of Saint Andrew in Bucha, after viewing dozens of graphic photographs and a video display of the massacres with his EU counterparts, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski was grim. —Lorne Cook, Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2026

It was hung roughly a year after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, to express solidarity with the twelve hundred people who were murdered—in the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust—and with the two hundred and fifty-one people Hamas had abducted. —Eyal Press, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026

Verb

In fact, high inflation triggered mass protests in December and January, prompting the regime to massacre tens of thousands of its own citizens. —Jason Ma, Fortune, 23 Mar. 2026

But in places where criminal groups are more present than law enforcement, nearly every vigilante movement that has emerged in recent history has either been coopted by rival cartels or massacred. —ABC News, 20 Mar. 2026

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