Meaning of "massacre" in the English dictionary

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD MASSACRE

From Old French, of unknown origin.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

PRONUNCIATION OF MASSACRE

massacre  [ˈmæsəkə]

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF MASSACRE

Massacre is a verb and can also act as a noun.

A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.

See the conjugation of the verb massacre in English.

WHAT DOES MASSACRE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Massacre

A massacre is a specific incident in which a military force, mob, or other group kill many people—and the perpetrating party is perceived as in total control of force while the victimized party is perceived as helpless or innocent. No clear-cut criteria defines when a mass killing is a massacre. Public perception during and after the event, and collective assessment of how the circumstances align with given ideas of acceptable use of force, and on how a culture or nation wants to hold an event in collective memory. Massacres have often accompanied the sack of a captured city. For example, Julius Caesar's soldiers massacred the population of Avaricum regardless of age and sex. The first recorded use in English of the word massacre to label an event is Marlowe's, The massacre at Paris. The word ultimately derives from Middle Low German *matskelen meaning to slaughter. Massacre is also a verb that means to kill in numbers, especially brutally and indiscriminately. The first known use for this meaning was in 1588.

Definition of massacre in the English dictionary

The first definition of massacre in the dictionary is the wanton or savage killing of large numbers of people, as in battle. Other definition of massacre is an overwhelming defeat, as in a game. Massacre is also to kill indiscriminately or in large numbers.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO MASSACRE

PRESENT

Present

I massacre

you massacre

he/she/it massacres

we massacre

you massacre

they massacre

Present continuous

I am massacring

you are massacring

he/she/it is massacring

we are massacring

you are massacring

they are massacring

Present perfect

I have massacred

you have massacred

he/she/it has massacred

we have massacred

you have massacred

they have massacred

Present perfect continuous

I have been massacring

you have been massacring

he/she/it has been massacring

we have been massacring

you have been massacring

they have been massacring

Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.

PAST

Past

I massacred

you massacred

he/she/it massacred

we massacred

you massacred

they massacred

Past continuous

I was massacring

you were massacring

he/she/it was massacring

we were massacring

you were massacring

they were massacring

Past perfect

I had massacred

you had massacred

he/she/it had massacred

we had massacred

you had massacred

they had massacred

Past perfect continuous

I had been massacring

you had been massacring

he/she/it had been massacring

we had been massacring

you had been massacring

they had been massacring

Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,

FUTURE

Future

I will massacre

you will massacre

he/she/it will massacre

we will massacre

you will massacre

they will massacre

Future continuous

I will be massacring

you will be massacring

he/she/it will be massacring

we will be massacring

you will be massacring

they will be massacring

Future perfect

I will have massacred

you will have massacred

he/she/it will have massacred

we will have massacred

you will have massacred

they will have massacred

Future perfect continuous

I will have been massacring

you will have been massacring

he/she/it will have been massacring

we will have been massacring

you will have been massacring

they will have been massacring

The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.

CONDITIONAL

Conditional

I would massacre

you would massacre

he/she/it would massacre

we would massacre

you would massacre

they would massacre

Conditional continuous

I would be massacring

you would be massacring

he/she/it would be massacring

we would be massacring

you would be massacring

they would be massacring

Conditional perfect

I would have massacre

you would have massacre

he/she/it would have massacre

we would have massacre

you would have massacre

they would have massacre

Conditional perfect continuous

I would have been massacring

you would have been massacring

he/she/it would have been massacring

we would have been massacring

you would have been massacring

they would have been massacring

Conditional or "future-in-the-past" tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.

IMPERATIVE

Imperative

you massacre
we let´s massacre
you massacre

The imperative is used to form commands or requests.

NONFINITE VERB FORMS

Infinitive

to massacre

Past participle

massacred

Present Participle

massacring

Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.

SYNONYMS OF «MASSACRE»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «massacre» and belong to the same grammatical category.

synonyms of massacre

annihilate · annihilation · blood bath · blow away · butcher · butchery · carnage · exterminate · extermination · holocaust · kill · killing · mow down · murder · slaughter · slay · take out · wipe out

TRANSLATION OF MASSACRE

Find out the translation of massacre to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of massacre from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «massacre» in English.

• Translator English - Chinese: 大屠杀
• Translator English - Spanish: masacre
• English: massacre
• Translator English - Hindi: नरसंहार
• Translator English - Arabic: مَذْبَحَةٌ
• Translator English - Russian: резня
• Translator English - Portuguese: massacre
• Translator English - Bengali: হত্যাকাণ্ড
• Translator English - French: massacre
• Translator English - Malay: Pembunuhan beramai-ramai
• Translator English - German: Massaker
• Translator English - Japanese: 大虐殺
• Translator English - Korean: 대학살
• Translator English - Javanese: Massacre
• Translator English - Vietnamese: cuộc tàn sát
• Translator English - Tamil: படுகொலை
• Translator English - Marathi: नरसंहार
• Translator English - Turkish: katliam
• Translator English - Italian: strage
• Translator English - Polish: masakra
• Translator English - Ukrainian: бійня
• Translator English - Romanian: masacru
• Translator English - Greek: σφαγή
• Translator English - Afrikaans: slagting
• Translator English - Swedish: massaker
• Translator English - Norwegian: massakre

10 QUOTES WITH «MASSACRE»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word massacre.

1

Diane Abbott

The honest truth is that if this government were to propose the massacre of the first-born, it would still have no difficulty in getting it through the Commons.

2

Daniel Craig

The subject matter is very tricky. It's about the Munich massacre and what Mossad did afterwards with the assassination squads. I think it's a turning point in history, especially for the Palestinians.

3

Dick Gregory

We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre.

4

Michael Haneke

It's impossible to consider living without ideals. However, when ideas lead to ideology, that's a very dangerous thing. Ideology then leads to creating the image of an enemy, and it leads to the murder and massacre that we've seen since the beginning of time.

5

Tim Hetherington

The funny thing about war is that people feel you need to be morally outraged. I feel morally outraged about it, and I've been doing it for long enough to feel morally outraged, because I have been in massacre scenes in West Africa, and I've been doing this for a long time now.

6

Atifete Jahjaga

When you scan the globe's hot spots, every civil war and massacre, every act of terror and every clash between states has its unique local circumstances.

7

Ed Markey

In Uzbekistan, hundreds of protesters were recently killed under the corrupt regime of President Karimov in what human rights groups are calling a massacre.

8

Hassan Nasrallah

The U.N. Security Council did not to condemn the Qana massacre, due to the U.S. veto.

9

Pythagoras

As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other.

10

Philip Roth

Old age isn't a battle; old age is a massacre.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «MASSACRE»

Discover the use of massacre in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to massacre and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French ...

When the apprentices of a Paris printing shop in the 1730s held a series of mock trials and then hanged all the cats they could lay their hands on, why did they find it so hilariously funny that they choked with laughter when they reenacted ...

Robert Darnton, 2009

A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling over the Memory of Sand Creek

Kelman examines how generations of Americans have struggled with the question of whether the nation’s crimes, as well as its achievements, should be memorialized.

Ari Kelman, 2013

The Boston Massacre

Part riot, part slaughter, the Boston Massacre of March 1770 was a political cause celebre and one of the key events leading to the American Revolution.

Robert J. Allison, 2006

Massacre in Mexico

Now available in paper is Elena Poniatowska's gripping account of the massacre of student protesters by police at the 1968 Olympic Games, which Publishers Weekly claimed "makes the campus killings at Kent State and Jackson State in 1970 ...

Elena Poniatowska, 1975

The Colfax Massacre : The Untold Story of Black Power, White ...

LeeAnna Keith gives readers both a gripping narrative account of that portentous day and a nuanced historical analysis of its far-reaching repercussions.

New York City LeeAnna Keith Collegiate School, 2008

After the Massacre: Commemoration and Consolation in Ha My ...

This text considers how Vietnamese villagers have assimilated the catastrophe of these mass deaths into their everyday ritual lives.

Heonik Kwon, 2006

The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography

A compelling historiographic study of the Rape of Nanjing during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945, one of the worst atrocities of all times, and of the event's repercussions.

Joshua A. Fogel, 2000

Massacre at Mountain Meadows

The book sheds light on factors contributing to the tragic event, including the war hysteria that overcame the Mormons after President James Buchanan dispatched federal troops to Utah Territory to put down a supposed rebellion, the ...

Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley, Glen M. Leonard, 2008

Against Massacre: Humanitarian Interventions in the Ottoman ...

Against Massacre looks at the rise of humanitarian intervention in the nineteenth century, from the fall of Napoleon to the First World War.

Davide Rodogno, 2012

The My Lai Massacre in American History and Memory

. . This is the first book to examine the response of American society to the My Lai massacre and its ambiguous place in American national memory. Kendrick Oliver argues that the massacre revelations left many Americans untroubled.

Kendrick Oliver, 2006

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «MASSACRE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term massacre is used in the context of the following news items.

Suruc massacre highlights Turkey's Islamic State dilemma

Many fear the Suruc massacre could be a turning point for Turkey: a sign that the Syrian war is spilling over the border. Many others argue ... «BBC News, Jul 15»

Thousands of people march through north London in memory of …

"He explained that it was to do with the Suruc massacre that occurred yesterday in Turkey. At least 30 people were killed in a suicide bombing. «Evening Standard, Jul 15»

Preachers arming themselves following church massacre

Preachers arming themselves following church massacre. It wasn't at an ordinary shooting range. And the crowd wasn't your typical ... «WWL, Jul 15»

Finally: Days After Chattanooga Massacre Obama Orders White …

Five days after four Marines were slaughtered at a recruiting center in Chattanooga and three days after a Navy sailor died from injuries at a ... «Town Hall, Jul 15»

Tunisia massacre victim 'was kind, caring' great-grandfather

A great-grandfather who was killed with his partner in the Tunisia beach massacre was a "kind, caring and generous man", his distraught family ... «BT.com, Jul 15»

Analyst: Death of Andal Sr. deprives justice for Maguindanao …

Andal Ampatuan Sr. deprives justice for the families of the victims of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, an analyst said on Tuesday. «Philippine Star, Jul 15»

Police intervene as thousands take to streets to protest Suruç …

Crowds of demonstrators took to the streets in several cities across the country to denounce Monday's massacre in Suruç in which 32 lives ... «Today's Zaman, Jul 15»

The taxes chainsaw massacre: Rand Paul is desperate for your …

The 2016 campaign hasn't been proceeding in accordance with Rand Paul's expectations. He jumped into the race hoping to be the “different ... «Salon, Jul 15»

On the Recent Massacre in Suruç, Turkish Kurdistan

At noon, in the border town of Suruç in Turkish Kurdistan, a bomb ripped through the bodies of communists, socialists, and anarchists who were ... «Anarkismo.net, Jul 15»

Hollie family to honor Slocum Massacre descendant

Slocum Massacre descendant Constance Hollie-Jawaid told the Herald-Press that the Stephen F. Austin University Forensic Anthropology ... «Palestine Herald Press, Jul 15»