slay

kill, slay, murder, assassinate, dispatch, execute mean to deprive of life. kill merely states the fact of death caused by an agency in any manner.

• • killed in an accident
• • frost killed the plants

slay is a chiefly literary term implying deliberateness and violence but not necessarily motive.

• • slew thousands of the Philistines

murder specifically implies stealth and motive and premeditation and therefore full moral responsibility.

• • convicted of murdering a rival

assassinate applies to deliberate killing openly or secretly often for political motives.

• • terrorists assassinated the Senator

dispatch stresses quickness and directness in putting to death.

• • dispatched the sentry with one bullet

execute stresses putting to death as a legal penalty.

• • executed by lethal gas