kill

To kill is to end the life of some living being or something else. So, you could kill a deer by shooting it with a hunting rifle or kill a bill by voting against it.

Hunters kill animals for their meat, and drivers sometimes kill an animal accidentally, or inadvertently kill a plant, simply by forgetting to water it. Certain inanimate things are also said to kill, like poison or disease or drunk driving. In each of these cases, death is caused and life is taken. You can also kill figuratively, as when a school board kills the foreign language program or a thunderstorm kills your hopes of a picnic.

Primary Meanings of kill

1.
 vn
cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly
the act of terminating a life
2.
 v
end or extinguish by forceful means
3.
 v
tire out completely
4.
 v
overwhelm with hilarity, pleasure, or admiration
5.
 v
drink down entirely
Full Definitions of kill
1

v cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly

“This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bank”
“The farmer killed a pig for the holidays”
Types:
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annihilate, carry off, decimate, eliminate, eradicate, extinguish, wipe out
kill in large numbers
decimate
kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies
drown
kill by submerging in water
massacre, mow down, slaughter
kill a large number of people indiscriminately
erase, wipe out
remove from memory or existence
butcher, slaughter
kill (animals) usually for food consumption
poison
kill with poison
lapidate, stone
kill by throwing stones at
poison
kill by its poison
commit suicide
kill oneself
dispatch
kill without delay
vaporize, zap
kill with or as if with a burst of gunfire or electric current or as if by shooting
sacrifice
kill or destroy
take off
prove fatal
tomahawk
kill with a tomahawk
destroy, put down
put (an animal) to death
saber, sabre
kill with a saber
overlay, overlie
kill by lying on
brain
kill by smashing someone's skull
put away, put to sleep
kill gently, as with an injection
do in, knock off, liquidate, neutralise, neutralize, waste
get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
exterminate, kill off
kill en masse; kill on a large scale; kill many
asphyxiate, smother, suffocate
deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing
strangle, strangulate, throttle
kill by squeezing the throat of so as to cut off the air
behead, decapitate, decollate
cut the head of
impale, stake
kill by piercing with a spear or sharp pole
dismember
separate the limbs from the body
martyr
kill as a martyr
shed blood
kill violently
bump off, dispatch, hit, murder, off, polish off, remove, slay
kill intentionally and with premeditation
assassinate
murder; especially of socially prominent persons
execute, put to death
kill as a means of socially sanctioned punishment
draw, draw and quarter, quarter
pull (a person) apart with four horses tied to his extremities, so as to execute him
lynch
kill without legal sanction
pip, shoot
kill by firing a missile
electrocute, fry
kill by electrocution, as in the electric chair
chine
cut through the backbone of an animal
guillotine
kill by cutting the head off with a guillotine
garotte, garrote, garrotte, scrag
strangle with an iron collar
burke
murder without leaving a trace on the body
crucify
kill by nailing onto a cross
execute
murder in a planned fashion
flight
shoot a bird in flight
pick off
shoot one by one
burn
burn at the stake
hang, string up
kill by hanging

v be fatal

“cigarettes kill”
“drunken driving kills”
Type of:
be
have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)

v deprive of life

“AIDS has killed thousands in Africa”
Types:
strike down
cause to die, especially suddenly

v cause the death of, without intention

“She was killed in the collision of three cars”
Types:
electrocute
kill by electric shock

n the act of terminating a life

Synonyms:
killing, putting to death
Examples:
final solution
the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime from 1941 until 1945
Alamo
a siege and massacre at a mission in San Antonio in 1836; Mexican forces under Santa Anna besieged and massacred American rebels who were fighting to make Texas independent of Mexico
Battle of the Little Bighorn
a battle in Montana near the Little Bighorn River between United States cavalry under Custer and several groups of Native Americans (1876); Custer was pursuing Sioux led by Sitting Bull; Custer underestimated the size of the Sioux forces (which were supported by Cheyenne warriors) and was killed along with all his command
Types:
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coup de grace, deathblow
the blow that kills (usually mercifully)
death
the act of killing
euthanasia, mercy killing
the act of killing someone painlessly (especially someone suffering from an incurable illness)
homicide
the killing of a human being by another human being
despatch, dispatch
killing a person or animal
fell
the act of felling something (as a tree)
self-annihilation, self-destruction, suicide
the act of killing yourself
slaughter
the killing of animals (as for food)
poisoning
the act of giving poison to a person or animal with the intent to kill
asphyxiation, suffocation
killing by depriving of oxygen
ritual killing, sacrifice
the act of killing (an animal or person) in order to propitiate a deity
electrocution
killing by electric shock
beheading, decapitation
killing by cutting off the head
genocide, race murder, racial extermination
systematic killing of a racial or cultural group
honor killing
an ancient tradition still sometimes observed; a male member of the family kills a female relative for tarnishing the family image
manslaughter
homicide without malice aforethought
execution, murder, slaying
unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being
assisted suicide
suicide of a terminally ill person that involves an assistant who serves to make dying as painless and dignified as possible
felo-de-se
an act of deliberate self destruction
hara-kiri, harakiri, harikari, seppuku
ritual suicide by self-disembowelment on a sword; practiced by samurai in the traditional Japanese society
suttee
the act of a Hindu widow willingly cremating herself on the funeral pyre of her dead husband
gassing
the deliberate act of poisoning some person or animal with gas
shooting
killing someone by gunfire
choking, strangling, strangulation, throttling
the act of suffocating (someone) by constricting the windpipe
hecatomb
a great sacrifice; an ancient Greek or Roman sacrifice of 100 oxen
immolation
killing or offering as a sacrifice
Type of:
conclusion, ending, termination
the act of ending something

n the destruction of an enemy plane or ship or tank or missile

“the pilot reported two kills during the mission”
Type of:
destruction, devastation
the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists
2

v end or extinguish by forceful means

Synonyms:
stamp out
Type of:
end, terminate
bring to an end or halt

v cause to cease operating

“kill the engine”
Type of:
cut, switch off, turn off, turn out
cause to stop operating by disengaging a switch

v destroy a vitally essential quality of or in

“Eating artichokes kills the taste of all other foods”
Type of:
destroy, destruct
do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of

v thwart the passage of

“kill a motion”
Synonyms:
defeat, shoot down, vote down, vote out
Type of:
blackball, negative, veto
vote against; refuse to endorse; refuse to assent

v hit with great force

“He killed the ball”
Type of:
hit
cause to move by striking

v hit with so much force as to make a return impossible, in racket games

“She killed the ball”
Type of:
hit
cause to move by striking

v mark for deletion, rub off, or erase

“kill these lines in the President's speech”
Synonyms:
obliterate, wipe out
Type of:
take away, take out
take out or remove
3

v tire out completely

“The daily stress of her work is killing her”
Type of:
beat, exhaust, tucker, tucker out, wash up
wear out completely

v be the source of great pain for

“These new shoes are killing me!”
Type of:
ache, hurt, suffer
feel physical pain
4

v overwhelm with hilarity, pleasure, or admiration

“The comedian was so funny, he was killing me!”
Type of:
overcome, overpower, overtake, overwhelm, sweep over, whelm
overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli
5

v drink down entirely

“She killed a bottle of brandy that night”
Synonyms:
belt down, bolt down, down, drink down, pop, pour down, toss off
Type of:
drink, imbibe
take in liquids

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