Definitions for massacre
ˈmæs ə kərmas·sacre

Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. slaughter, massacre, mass murder, carnage, butcheryverb

   the savage and excessive killing of many people

2. massacre, slaughter, mow downverb

   kill a large number of people indiscriminately

   "The Hutus massacred the Tutsis in Rwanda"

GCIDE(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Massacrenoun

   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.

Wiktionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. massacrenoun

   The intentional killing of a considerable number of human beings, under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty, or contrary to the usages of civilized people.

2. massacrenoun

   Murder.

3. massacreverb

   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.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. MASSACREnoun

   Etymology: massacre, French, from mazzare, Italian.

   1. Carnage; slaughter; butchery; indiscriminate destruction.

   Of whom such massacre
   Make they, but of their brethren, men of men. John Milton.

   Slaughter grows murder, when it goes too far,
   And makes a massacre what was a war. John Dryden, Ind. Emp.

   2. Murder.

   The tyrannous and bloody act is done;
   The most arch deed of piteous massacre,
   That ever yet this land was guilty of. William Shakespeare, Rich. III.

2. To Massacreverb

   To butcher; to slaughter indiscriminately.

   Etymology: massacrer, French, from the noun

   I’ll find a day to massacre them all,
   And raze their faction, and their family. William Shakespeare.

   Christian religion, now crumbled into fractions, may, like dust, be irrecoverably dissipated, if God do not countermine us, or we recover so much sobriety as to forbear to massacre what we pretend to love. Decay of Piety.

   After the miserable slaughter of the Jews, at the destruction of Jerusalem, they were scattered into all corners, oppressed and detested, and sometimes massacred and extirpated. Francis Atterbury.

Wikipedia(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Massacre

   A massacre is the killing of a large number of people, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when perpetrated by a group of political actors against defenseless victims. The word is a loan of a French term for "butchery" or "carnage". A "massacre" is not necessarily a "crime against humanity". Other terms with overlapping scope include war crime, pogrom, mass killing, mass murder, and extrajudicial killing.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Massacrenoun

   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

2. Massacrenoun

   murder

3. Massacrenoun

   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

4. Etymology: [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. mitan.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Massacre

   A massacre is an incident where some group is killed by another, and the perpetrating party are perceived to be in total control of force while the victimized party is perceived to be helpless and/or innocent with regard to any legitimate offense. There is no clear-cut definition for when killings are referred to as massacres or not, rather, this choice is a result of an individual or collective assessment, depending e.g. on how the circumstances of the killing align with given ideas of acceptable use of force and on the desired status of an event in collective memory. The first recorded use in English of the word massacre in the name of an event is "Marlowe, The massacre at Paris". The word is ultimately derived from a Middle Low German *matskelen meaning "to slaughter". Massacre can also be used as a verb, as "To kill in numbers, esp. brutally and indiscriminately", the first usage of which was "1588 J. PENRY Viewe Publ. Wants Wales 65 Men which make no conscience for gaine sake, to break the law of the æternall, and massaker soules...are dangerous subjects". The term can also be used metaphorically for events that do not involve any deaths, such as the Saturday Night Massacre - the dismissals and resignations of political appointees during the Watergate scandal.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Massacre

   mas′a-kėr, n. indiscriminate slaughter, esp. with cruelty: carnage.—v.t. to kill with violence and cruelty: to slaughter. [Fr.; from the Teut., as in Low Ger. matsken, to cut; cf. Ger. metz-ger, a butcher.]

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. massacre

   The killing of human beings by indiscriminate slaughter, murder of numbers with cruelty or atrocity, or contrary to the usages of civilized people; cold-blooded destruction of life; butchery; carnage. The following are among the most remarkable:

Suggested Resources(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. massacre

   Song lyrics by massacre -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by massacre on the Lyrics.com website.

How to pronounce massacre?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say massacre in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of massacre in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of massacre in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of massacre in a Sentence

1. Reuven Rivlin:

   I stand before you in shock and in pain. ... Terror that does not differentiate between people, between creeds. ... Your beloved Zidan, one of this state's best sons, didn't hesitate and didn't waver, israel Reuven Rivlin was among the first to reach the scene of the massacre, among the first to protect the people of Jerusalem. Your dear Zidan Saif stood fearlessly before the terrorists and used Israel Reuven Rivlin own body to block their attack, to block their fire.

2. Jack Levin:

   It isn't unreasonable to speculate that at least some of the black churches are acts of arson, especially coming in the aftermath of the horrific massacre of nine people in a black church.

3. L. Brown:

   White survivors of the massacre stopped talking about it, black survivors only whispered about it, because there was a real fear among Black people that it could happen again, and it did in other places.

4. Wang Dan:

   It is time for us now, for the whole democratic countries now, to re-recognize the true face of the (Communist Party) and try to learn some lessons from the Tiananmen massacre, this is a very important challenge for the whole world, because now China is a rising power, and seems like a threat for the democracy and freedom of the whole world.

5. President Tayyip Erdogan:

   We call on European countries to use their energy to stop the massacre in Idlib, rather than trying to corner Turkey for the legitimate steps it took in Syria.

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