assassin

noun

as·​sas·​sin ə-ˈsa-sᵊn 

1

: a person who commits murder

especially : one who murders a politically important person either for money or from fanatical adherence to a cause

2

Assassin : a member of a Shia Muslim sect who at the time of the Crusades was sent out on a suicidal mission to murder prominent enemies

Synonyms

• murderer
• killer

Examples of assassin in a Sentence

John Wilkes Booth was the assassin of Abraham Lincoln.

shot down by an unknown assassin

Recent Examples on the Web

Wahlberg, 54, reprises his role as suburban dad and car salesman Dan Morgan, whose family now knows about his past life as an assassin. —Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 14 Oct. 2025

Bucky Irving, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Egbuka’s out of the game… this guy is an assassin, man. —Cole Sullivan, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025

By the end, only one of the assassins is alive; Brian ties him to a tree and slaps him around a bit, demanding to know who hired him. —Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 10 Oct. 2025

This isn’t a professional assassin. —Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 10 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Medieval Latin assassinus, from Arabic ḥashshāshīn, plural of ḥashshāsh worthless person, literally, hashish user, from hashīsh hashish

First Known Use

circa 1520, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Phrases Containing assassin

• assassin bug

Rhymes for assassin

• unfasten
• bason
• casson
• fasten
• cytochalasin
• diapason

Kids Definition

assassin

noun

as·​sas·​sin ə-ˈsas-ən 

: a person who kills another person

especially : one who murders a politically important person either for pay or from loyalty to a cause