as in slaughter
the killing of a large number of people
the infamous massacre of more than 200 Sioux at Wounded Knee, South Dakota
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as in to slaughter
to kill on a large scale
the country's rival ethnic groups began massacring one another
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Recent Examples of massacre
Pilar Arias, FOXNews.com, 16 Sep. 2025
The teenager's accounts were littered with references to white supremacy, antisemitism and violence, with a particular focus on past mass shootings, including the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 16 Sep. 2025
Larry Luxner, Sun Sentinel, 21 Aug. 2025
After Hamas massacred some 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, the Israeli settler right converged on a plan.
—Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 7 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for massacre
Noun
The county was also the scene of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre that left 14 people dead.
—Pilar Arias, FOXNews.com, 16 Sep. 2025
The teenager's accounts were littered with references to white supremacy, antisemitism and violence, with a particular focus on past mass shootings, including the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 16 Sep. 2025
Verb
In Iași alone over a three-day period in June 1941, more than 13,000 Jews — more than a third of the city’s Jewish population — were massacred, marking one of the worst pogroms of World War II.
—Larry Luxner, Sun Sentinel, 21 Aug. 2025
After Hamas massacred some 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, the Israeli settler right converged on a plan.
—Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 7 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for massacre
Recent Examples of Synonyms for massacre
slaughter
Noun
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Warned by ornithologists that killing an insectivorous bird that also ate grain seeds would lead to a surge in locusts and caterpillars, Mao dismissed such arguments and urged mass slaughter.—
Scott Montgomery,
Forbes.com,
15 Sep. 2025
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The slaughter of the innocents that follows the birth of Jesus in the Book of Matthew is depicted by limp infants that Gaudí modelled on casts of actual stillborn babies.—
D. T. Max,
New Yorker,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Massacre.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/massacre. Accessed 22 Sep. 2025.
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