slaughter

noun

slaugh·ter | \ ˈslȯ-tər

Definition of slaughter

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : the act of killing specifically : the butchering of livestock for market

2 : killing of great numbers of human beings (as in battle or a massacre) : carnage

slaughter

verb

slaughtered; slaughtering; slaughters

Definition of slaughter (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to kill (animals) for food : butcher

2a : to kill in a bloody or violent manner : slay

b : to kill in large numbers : massacre

3 : to discredit, defeat, or demolish completely

Other Words from slaughter Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about slaughter

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Examples of slaughter in a Sentence

Noun

the slaughter of innocent people all civilized nations should protest this senseless slaughter

Verb

Our team got slaughtered yesterday. modern poultry farms slaughter a vast number of chickens every day

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Good night, good luck Bloodlines 2 begins with a slaughter. — Hayden Dingman, PCWorld, "15 years later, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is finally happening," 21 Mar. 2019 And nowadays there is hardly a television drama series that does not open with the slaughter and evisceration of some faceless young woman. — John Banville, WSJ, "‘Sleeping With Strangers’ Review: Flickers of Desire," 22 Feb. 2019 The story—10 LeT gunmen arrive in Mumbai by boat and held India’s commercial capital hostage for three days of slaughter—is as familiar to Indians as the 9/11 attacks are to Americans. — Sadanand Dhume, WSJ, "Pakistan, Stop Coddling Terrorists," 29 Nov. 2018 Fish farms might have to adopt new methods of slaughter. — Dino Grandoni, Washington Post, "The Energy 202: A bunch of House Republicans say they’re serious about climate change. Do they mean it?," 25 May 2018 The ruling, which contrasts with U.S. regulations, also applies to kosher slaughter methods. ... — Valentina Pop, WSJ, "Halal and ‘Organic’ Don’t Mix in EU Ruling," 26 Feb. 2019 Myanmar rejects testimonies of slaughter, rape and sustained violence, saying soldiers took counterterrorism steps last year only after Rohingya militants attacked security posts, killing a dozen security personnel. — Niharika Mandhana, WSJ, "‘All Our Lives They Wanted to Ruin Us.’ For Decades, Myanmar Sought to Drive Out Rohingya," 23 Nov. 2018 That guy was responsible for the slaughter of Alejandro’s family, and in a twist of screenplay karma, Alejandro acquires extralegal custody of his enemy’s teenage daughter, Isabel Reyes (Isabela Moner). — Taylor Sheridan, New York Times, "Review: ‘Sicario: Day of the Soldado’ Blends War Movie and Western," 28 June 2018 Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die, Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred Why would a father ask his ever-expanding brood of what became 11 children to memorize a poem about war and slaughter? — Kerry Kennedy, Time, "Kerry Kennedy: What My Father, RFK, Means Today," 31 May 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Even though our capacity to slaughter each other has been growing — and the 20th century was rife with such atrocities — the overall trajectory has been that things keep getting better. — Kelsey Piper, Vox, "Human history, in one chart," 8 Nov. 2018 Animals that test positive are sent to slaughter while those that test negative are quarantined for additional testing with plans to relocate them to Indian reservations. — Amy Beth Hanson, The Seattle Times, "Yellowstone superintendent won’t consider visitor caps," 23 Oct. 2018 Both are routinely slaughtered for human consumption, not only in commercial facilities but also in residential settings, urban and rural. — Elaine Ayala, San Antonio Express-News, "S.A. animal sacrifice was Santería practice, but was it illegal?," 22 Mar. 2018 Back then, her stepfather bought live hogs from the stockyard and slaughtered and butchered them himself. — Bob Carlton, AL.com, "Preserving a family barbecue tradition at Lannie's Bar-B-Q Spot in Selma," 23 Mar. 2018 Livestock ingesting metal is a common phenomenon— roughly 55 to 75 percent of the cattle slaughtered in the eastern United States alone have digested pieces of metal, whether that's a nail, a piece of wire, or something more. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "What If Animal Feces Could Be Recycled for Metals and Valuable Elements?," 29 Nov. 2018 Even the lower-end estimate is nearly twice the number of chickens slaughtered every year in the US. — Dylan Matthews, Vox, "How to be a better carnivore," 14 Nov. 2018 In the five years since a gunman slaughtered 20 first-graders in Newtown, Conn., at least 438 American men, women and children have been shot in school shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive. — Elise Jordan, Time, "I’ve Supported the Second Amendment My Whole Life. It’s Time for Reasonable Gun Control," 31 Mar. 2018 In those days, Muslim men and boys there were separated from their mothers, sisters and wives, driven into the woods and hunted down like animals, then slaughtered before being tossed into mass graves. — Janine Di Giovanni, Newsweek, "Remembering the Horrors Bosnians Endured Under Radovan Karadzic," 5 Apr. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'slaughter.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.