killing off

Definition of killing offnext
present participle of kill off

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for killing off
Verb
  • For a few minutes at each end of that window, the moon’s edge will appear to align with that of the sun, blotting out the star’s fierce light and revealing the wispy corona off to one side.
    Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 6 Apr. 2026
  • From up in the space shuttle, in 1983, astronaut Sally Ride could see the pollution blotting out her Los Angeles hometown.
    Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Prosecutors said the scheme resulted in about $6 million in actual losses, with 11 suspects — including an Iranian and Azerbaijani national — accused of stealing victims’ identities, taking out mortgages on their homes and pocketing the cash.
    Michael Dorgan, FOXNews.com, 21 Mar. 2026
  • She was also found guilty of insurance fraud for taking out a $100,000 insurance policy on her husband's life with his forged signature and also for submitting a claim following his death.
    Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 20 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • And the bullpen highlighted by Carlos Estevez and Lucas Erceg augmented by the addition of Matt Strahm figures to give them an advantage in putting away games.
    Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 27 Mar. 2026
  • Ultimately, the Saints couldn't complete an all-timer of a tournament shocker, fading late as the Blue Devils rallied from their biggest deficit all season — 13 points — before finally putting away a 71-65 win in Thursday's first round of the East Region.
    ABC News, ABC News, 19 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Illinois State suffered an early exit from the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament but has since bounced back, knocking off Kent State, Wake Forest and Dayton en route to the semifinal round.
    Garrett Chorpenning, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2026
  • Texas, meanwhile, rode the momentum after knocking off likely NBA lottery pick AJ Dybantsa and BYU in the first round.
    Anne M. Peterson, Chicago Tribune, 22 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Livestock numbers are strictly controlled on Tristan, and the community manages the herd by occasionally slaughtering animals for meat and leather.
    NPR, NPR, 4 Apr. 2026
  • One thinks of the hundred brothers that Donald Antrim imagined, gathering in the ancestral home to honor their father’s memory and ritually slaughtering one of their own.
    Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Also on the trail is a gangster named Clyde (John Magaro), who’s been sent to redo the job of rubbing out the mysteriously undead Ida.
    Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • Zeus acting for his own pleasure underlies the evolutionary tales of small groups raiding foreign shores, carrying off women.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Jan. 2026
  • 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
Verb
  • In the past decade, $15,745 of the county’s funds have been allocated to Billings Road work including inspections, weed eating and mowing the surrounding grass.
    Rachel Royster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Apr. 2026
  • In that case, Enroth recommends moving around the plants or mowing high, around four inches, so the grass is cut, but the violets, for instance, stay intact.
    Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 8 Apr. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Killing off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/killing%20off. Accessed 13 Apr. 2026.

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