massacre

Alternative formsEdit

• massacer (archaic)

EtymologyEdit

1580, from Middle French massacre, from Old French macacre, macecle (“slaughterhouse, butchery”), from Medieval Latin mazacrium (“massacre, slaughter, killing”, also “the head of a newly killed stag”), from Middle Low German *matskelen (“to massacre”) (compare German metzeln (“massacre”)), frequentive of matsken, matzgen (“to cut, hew”), from Proto-Germanic *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“small”). Akin to Old High German meizan (“to cut”), Dutch matsen (“to maul, kill”), dialectal German metzgern (“to butcher, kill”), German metzgen (“to cull, kill, slaughter cattle”), Metzger (“a butcher”), Metzelei (“massacre”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (maitan, “to cut”). See also the French term massacrer.

PronunciationEdit

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæs.ə.kə(ɹ)/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

NounEdit

massacre (plural massacres)

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

   the massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day

   St. Valentine's Day massacre

   Amritsar massacre

2. (obsolete) Murder.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third

     The tyrannous and bloody act is done,—

     The most arch deed of piteous massacre

     That ever yet this land was guilty of.

3. (figuratively) An overwhelming defeat.

SynonymsEdit

• butchery, carnage, slaughter.

  Massacre denotes the promiscuous slaughter of many who can not make resistance, or much resistance.

  • 1592, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, I,v

    I'll find a day to massacre them all, And raze their faction and their family

  Butchery refers to cold-blooded cruelty in the killing of men as if they were brute beasts.

  • 1593, William Shakespeare, Richard III, I,ii

    If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds, Behold this pattern of thy butcheries

  Carnage points to slaughter as producing the heaped-up bodies of the slain.

  • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost

    Such a scent I draw Of carnage, prey innumerable!

Related termsEdit

• mass murder
• massacrer
• massacree

TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

massacre (third-person singular simple present massacres, present participle massacring, simple past and past participle massacred)

1. (transitive) To kill in considerable numbers where much resistance can not be made; to kill with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and contrary to the norms of civilized people; to butcher; to slaughter. (Often limited to the killing of human beings.)
   • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History Of England From the Accession of James II

     If James should be pleased to massacre them all, as Maximilian had massacred the Theban legion

2. (figuratively) This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

TranslationsEdit

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /ma.sakʁ/

NounEdit

massacre m (plural massacres)

1. massacre

VerbEdit

massacre

1. first-person singular present indicative of massacrer
2. third-person singular present indicative of massacrer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of massacrer
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of massacrer
5. second-person singular imperative of massacrer

AnagramsEdit

• sacrâmes, sarcasme

External linksEdit

• “massacre” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

NounEdit

massacre m (plural massacres)

1. massacre

NounEdit

massacre m (plural massacres)

1. massacre

Related termsEdit

• massacrar
• massacrante