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

The massacre of the people of Gaza continues unabated. —Chicago Tribune, 27 June 2025

As early as the 1970s, Jordan’s crushing of Palestinian guerrillas prompted the emergence of the Black September organization and the Munich Olympic massacre of Israeli athletes. —Hussein Agha, Foreign Affairs, 23 June 2025

Verb

At the twilight of his career, in 1990, just a few months after the People’s Liberation Army massacred many of the young protesters who had called for change in Tiananmen Square, Xi Zhongxun assumed one of his last titles: co-chairman of the Care for the Next Generation Committee. —Joseph Torigian, Foreign Affairs, 23 June 2025

Recently, 200 Christian IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) were massacred in Nigeria. —Nuri Kino, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 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