Synonyms of massacres

massacres 1 of 2

noun

plural of massacre

as in slaughters

the killing of a large number of people

the infamous massacre of more than 200 Sioux at Wounded Knee, South Dakota

Synonyms & Similar Words

• slaughters
• deaths
• genocides
• bloodbaths
• holocausts
• carnages
• murders
• butcheries
• killings
• slayings
• exterminations
• manslaughters
• homicides
• devastations
• assassinations
• pogroms
• executions
• mortalities
• destructions
• annihilations
• bloodsheds
• bloodlettings
• foul play
• decimations
• eradications

massacres

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of massacre

as in murders

to kill on a large scale

the country's rival ethnic groups began massacring one another

Synonyms & Similar Words

• slaughters
• murders
• dispatches
• slays
• executes
• destroys
• assassinates
• butchers
• mows (down)
• smites
• wipes out
• eradicates
• demolishes
• fells
• snuffs
• wastes
• annihilates
• exterminates
• does in
• devastates
• decimates
• croaks
• blots out

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of massacres

Noun

Although scarce documentation has left a wide range of estimates, as many as 2 million people are said to have been slaughtered in communal massacres during this exodus. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 July 2026

Like many other Jewish Americans, the retiree believes Israel is an essential refuge against the possible repetition of large-scale massacres of Jewish people, like the Holocaust, especially as concern about antisemitism rises among Jewish adults. — Giovanna Dell’orto, Los Angeles Times, 13 July 2026

Anyone who thinks that the differences between these sects are minor is invited to read about the wars, massacres and persecutions that erupted between them in the 16th and 17th centuries. — Kenneth Seeskin, Chicago Tribune, 5 July 2026

The issue has been particularly salient for low-income families living near fields of coca, the shrub used to make cocaine, as human rights organizations documented more than 50 massacres in Colombia just this year. — CBS News, 29 June 2026

The massacres, which resulted in the deaths of roughly 100,000 Polish civilians, are officially classified as a genocide by Warsaw, a characterization Kyiv denies. — Lidia Kurasinska, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026

The lands historically now known as Ukraine were occupied by the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth for centuries, and many Ukrainians view their nation’s genesis as the rebellion of Cossack Hetman Boghdan Khmelnitsky against the commonwealth, an event characterized by massacres of Poles and Jews. — Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 20 June 2026

Tens of thousands of Sudanese civilians were killed by the RSF in massacres after the capture of the Sudanese city of El Fasher alone last year. — Kate Bartlett, NPR, 9 June 2026

Most significantly, Lepore found that readers wanted to know the full story of their country—the progress and the revanchism, the beauty and the ugliness, the racial massacres and the Indian New Deal. — Yoni Appelbaum, The Atlantic, 8 June 2026

Verb

The transition to the climax, when Odysseus massacres his wife’s suitors with the help of Athena’s magic and son Telemachus (Alan Stenson), is also fairly rushed. — Elaina Patton, IndieWire, 24 July 2026

The Polish government considers the Volhynia and Galicia massacres a genocide, and holds Bandera equal in infamy to Nazi war criminals of the same era. — Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 25 Aug. 2025