Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for killing off
Verb
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Unfortunately, the 2025 Perseids happened to coincide with the appearance of a waxing gibbous moon, which bleached the sky with moonlight, blotting out all but the brightest members of the ancient meteor shower.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
13 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The number of homebuyers taking out VA loans also increased in August, rising 3 percent year-over-year nationwide—bucking the trend observed for conventional loans, which declined 9 percent year-over-year in the same month.—
Giulia Carbonaro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Nov. 2025
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Literally sitting on the ground, probably kneeling and just watching the television, taking out the tape, rewinding it, putting it back in and watching it over and over again.—
Jack Irvin,
PEOPLE,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
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By splicing pop songs and familiar meme formats into cruel detainment footage, ICE strains to attract a younger demographic, hoping to convince people that the agency is a vibrant—and trollishly funny—organization engaged in the noble work of putting away bad guys.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
7 Jan. 2026
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Many new hires go with the default savings rate, which can result in putting away less.—
Fiona Greig,
Fortune,
9 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Therefore Primate and its promising central character turns more into a typical slasher flick, repeatedly knocking off the swimsuit-wearing teens one by one, his specialty being yanking out jaws and other bloody grossouts.—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
8 Jan. 2026
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Lindsey Barber scored a career-high 21 points as the Dartmouth girls basketball team avenged a loss earlier this season by knocking off New Bedford, 49-41, in a nonleague contest.—
Tom Mulherin,
Boston Herald,
6 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Despite the fact ostrich feathers can be harvested without slaughtering, Collective Fashion Justice published research in 2023 that found all ostrich feather production systems ultimately kill the bird.—
Leah Dolan,
CNN Money,
30 Oct. 2025
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Butchering an animal for meat — slaughtering cows, pigs, lambs — was an act of necessity, not pleasure.—
Christine Peterson,
Outdoor Life,
16 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Before the night was out, Germans began chipping away at the barrier, carrying off chunks of one of the symbols of the diminishing Iron Curtain.—
Arizona Republic,
AZCentral.com,
9 Nov. 2025
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Activists, ministers, and community members came and went, day and night, their booming voices carrying off into the Philadelphia air.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Cormican and sheriff’s deputies spent that afternoon traveling back and forth across the lake at about four miles an hour, as if mowing a lawn, pulling the towfish on a cable behind them.—
Jamie Thompson,
The Atlantic,
6 Nov. 2025
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The gang starts getting creepy, threatening notes right as Ghostface shows up and starts mowing local teens down.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
31 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Killing off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/killing%20off. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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