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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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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Twenty-six years earlier, a roaring inferno engulfed a Monte Carlo penthouse killing a billionaire and his private nurse.—
Erin Moriarty,
CBS News,
17 May 2026
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The fire is believed to have started in the kitchen on the second floor, but the cause of the inferno has not yet been determined, per CBS News.—
Latoya Gayle,
PEOPLE,
12 May 2026
Noun
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This article includes graphic and disturbing accounts from the October 7 massacre in Israel.—
Amelie Botbol,
FOXNews.com,
14 May 2026
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But 2026 has marked a new nadir for one of the world’s oldest civilizations, with the government’s massacre of anti-regime protestors in January and widespread destruction from the United States’ and Israel’s intermittent war.—
Andrew Gilbert,
Mercury News,
13 May 2026
Noun
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More than 750 firefighters have been assigned to the fire, which sparked on Monday morning.—
Chelsea Hylton,
CBS News,
19 May 2026
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Last year Quantinuum posted a preprint on arXiv saying its two-dimensional simulation modeling the material shows that under laser fire, its electrons pair up—a condition necessary for flow without resistance.—
Zeeya Merali,
Scientific American,
19 May 2026
Noun
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The deadliest so far was the mass slaughter at a Hanukkah party on Sydney’s Bondi Beach in December, but perhaps only luck and good police work have prevented an even worse atrocity on American soil.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
21 May 2026
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Yolande Mukakasana, a genocide survivor and writer who lost her entire family in the genocide, told The Associated Press when the trial opened that the case had come too late for many survivors who have died since the slaughter.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Holocaust.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/holocaust. Accessed 24 May. 2026.
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