murder

/ˈmʌrdər/

/ˈmʌdə/

Other forms: murdered; murders; murdering

To murder is to kill, and it's illegal. Murder is one of the worst crimes of all.

While murdering sometimes means mangling something (like murdering a speech you were trying to give) it usually means killing — but not just any killing. If you kill someone by accident or in self-defense, that's not murder. If a soldier kills an enemy, that's not murder. Murder is a planned, illegal form of taking someone's life. If you read a law book, you'll see how complicated murder can be.

Definitions of murder

1. noun

   unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being
   synonyms: execution, slaying

   types:

   assassination

   murder of a public figure by surprise attack

   bloodshed, gore

   the shedding of blood resulting in murder

   contract killing

   a murder carried out on agreement with a hired killer

   parricide

   the murder of your own father or mother

   mariticide

   the murder of a husband by his wife

   fratricide

   the murder of your sibling

   uxoricide

   the murder of a wife by her husband

   filicide

   the murder of your own son or daughter

   elimination, liquidation

   the murder of a competitor

   butchery, carnage, mass murder, massacre, slaughter

   the savage and excessive killing of many people

   lynching

   putting a person to death by mob action without due process of law

   regicide

   the act of killing a king

   dry-gulching

   the act of killing from ambush

   hit

   a murder carried out by an underworld syndicate

   infanticide

   murdering an infant

   shoot-down

   murder by shooting someone down in cold blood

   tyrannicide

   killing a tyrant

   thuggee

   murder and robbery by thugs

   matricide

   the murder of one's own mother

   patricide

   the murder of your father

   battue, bloodbath, bloodletting, bloodshed

   indiscriminate slaughter

   type of:

   homicide

   the killing of a human being by another human being
2. verb

   kill intentionally and with premeditation
   “The mafia boss ordered his enemies murdered”

   synonyms: bump off, dispatch, hit, off, polish off, remove, slay

   types:

   burke

   murder without leaving a trace on the body

   execute

   murder in a planned fashion

   type of:

   kill

   cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly
3. verb

   alter so as to make unrecognizable
   “The tourists murdered the French language”

   synonyms: mangle, mutilate

   type of:

   distort, falsify, garble, warp

   make false by mutilation or addition; as of a message or story