Synonyms of mercy killing

mercy killing

noun

as in murder

the act of ending the life of someone who is very sick or injured in order to prevent any further suffering

Some called her death a mercy killing.

Related Words

• murder
• homicide
• massacre
• assisted suicide
• foul play
• euthanasia
• physician-assisted suicide
• slaying
• killing
• slaughter
• manslaughter
• destruction
• chance-medley
• blood
• execution
• carnage
• bloodshed
• assassination
• butchery
• decimation
• rubout
• hit
• fratricide
• regicide
• matricide
• patricide
• parricide
• filicide
• uxoricide

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of mercy killing

Too much damage has been done to the character in recent years, to the point that any death would be seen as a mercy killing now. — Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 6 May 2026

For the rest of us, sudden death felt like a mercy killing. — James Horncastle, New York Times, 7 Feb. 2026

Kelson teaches Spike how to grow beyond his parents, giving Isla a mercy killing and allowing Spike to place her skull on the top of the structure. — Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 25 June 2025

While this was a funeral rite for some in the Roman period, the researchers think the man was decapitated as a mercy killing after the lion bite. — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 23 Apr. 2025

If the mercy killing wasn’t a big enough of a twist, the introduction of three outsiders who stumble upon the girls’ cannibalistic feast will do it. — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 17 Mar. 2025

More secrets emerge, Chappelle says there’s no time to explain, even mercy killing the dog. — Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 19 Jan. 2025

The doctor carried out the mercy killing with her family’s consent and support. — Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2019