1
as in inferno
a destructive burning
the holocaust caused by the ignited chemicals completely destroyed the factory and several surrounding homes
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2
as in massacre
the killing of a large number of people
as many as 2,000,000 people may have perished in the holocaust perpetrated by Cambodia's Khmer Rouge
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of holocaust
The film is cosmic Rocky, a thriller-comedy-blockbuster whose scope reaches all the way from the atom bomb to the holocaust and back to the pyramids, locating that beautiful and terrible human need to strive for the impossible, no matter the toll.
—
Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 23 Dec. 2025
Hours earlier, two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah by the Sea celebration near Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, killing at least 16 people including a rabbi and a holocaust survivor.
—Hannah Ruhoff, Sacbee.com, 15 Dec. 2025
But the graphic visions of nuclear holocaust in those films conjured no more dread than the explosion of the Death Star.
—Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
In his director’s statement, the filmmaker reveals that the historical drama mines from his own family’s trauma, linking the effects that both the holocaust and the rise in communism in Hungary had on him and his loved ones.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 25 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for holocaust
Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 23 Dec. 2025
Hours earlier, two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah by the Sea celebration near Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, killing at least 16 people including a rabbi and a holocaust survivor.
—Hannah Ruhoff, Sacbee.com, 15 Dec. 2025
But the graphic visions of nuclear holocaust in those films conjured no more dread than the explosion of the Death Star.
—Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
In his director’s statement, the filmmaker reveals that the historical drama mines from his own family’s trauma, linking the effects that both the holocaust and the rise in communism in Hungary had on him and his loved ones.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 25 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for holocaust
Recent Examples of Synonyms for holocaust
Noun
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Even dramas depicting the city as an inferno of crime and decay added to its legend.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
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Where exactly was that blazing inferno of passion on the diamond?—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
Mercury News,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The world sees the massacres in Lebanon.—
Benjamin Weinthal,
FOXNews.com,
8 Apr. 2026
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However, that night’s 19-3 massacre against visiting Worchester was a harbinger of things to come.—
Staff Report,
Twin Cities,
6 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Both people who live in Kansas City and people who work in Kansas City currently pay 1% of their income into the city’s general fund, which funds 45% of the city’s general budget and pays for services like trash collection, fire services and affordable housing programs.—
The Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
8 Apr. 2026
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Yearning to light some tech on fire is a relatable feeling these days, as generative artificial intelligence promises to supplant nearly every form of non-physical labor, social media wreaks havoc on the mental health of young people, and massive data centers loom as environmental blights.—
Kyle Chayka,
New Yorker,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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What followed was sheer amphibian slaughter — when the mating season started and the frogs were on the move, thousands would get run over.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
9 Apr. 2026
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Decades of this rhetoric have driven most Iranians—who have noticed that the wages of resistance are misery, hardship, and slaughter by their own wicked oppressors—to despair.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
3 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Holocaust.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/holocaust. Accessed 14 Apr. 2026.
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