'Massacre' definitions:
Definition of 'massacre'
(from WordNet)
Definition of 'Massacre'
From: GCIDE
- Massacre \Mas"sa*cre\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Massacred; p. pr. & vb. n. Massacring.] [Cf. F. massacrer. See Massacre, n.] To kill in considerable numbers where much resistance can not be made; to kill with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and contrary to the usages of nations; to butcher; to slaughter; -- limited to the killing of human beings. [1913 Webster]
- If James should be pleased to massacre them all, as Maximian had massacred the Theban legion. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Massacre'
From: GCIDE
- Massacre \Mas"sa*cre\, n. [F., fr. LL. mazacrium; cf. Prov. G. metzgern, metzgen, to kill cattle, G. metzger a butcher, and LG. matsken to cut, hew, OHG. meizan to cut, Goth. m['a]itan.]
- 1. The killing of a considerable number of human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty, or contrary to the usages of civilized people; as, the massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day; the St. Valentine's Day massacre; the Amritsar massacre; the Wounded Knee massacre. [1913 Webster +PJC]
- 2. Murder. [Obs.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Syn: Massacre, Butchery, Carnage.
- Usage: Massacre denotes the promiscuous slaughter of many who can not make resistance, or much resistance. Butchery refers to cold-blooded cruelty in the killing of men as if they were brute beasts. Carnage points to slaughter as producing the heaped-up bodies of the slain. [1913 Webster]
- I'll find a day to massacre them all, And raze their faction and their family. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds, Brhold this pattern of thy butcheries. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Such a scent I draw Of carnage, prey innumerable! --Milton. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'massacre'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- annihilate,
- annihilating,
- annihilation,
- assassination,
- assault,
- attack,
- battering,
- bloodbath,
- bloodshed,
- bump off,
- butcher,
- butchering,
- butchery,
- carnage,
- commit carnage,
- commit genocide,
- commit mass murder,
- decimate,
- decimation,
- depopulate,
- destroy,
- disorderliness,
- eliminate,
- eradicate,
- execute,
- execution,
- exterminate,
- extermination,
- final solution,
- forcible seizure,
- genocide,
- holocaust,
- kill,
- killing,
- laying waste,
- liquidate,
- liquidation,
- looting,
- mass destruction,
- mass murder,
- mow down,
- murder,
- murder wholesale,
- murdering,
- obliterate,
- obstreperousness,
- onslaught,
- pillaging,
- pogrom,
- race extermination,
- race-murder,
- rape,
- riot,
- rioting,
- sacking,
- saturnalia of blood,
- slaughter,
- slaughtering,
- slay,
- slay en masse,
- slaying,
- sowing with salt,
- unruliness,
- violation,
- wholesale murder,
- wipe out