/ English Dictionary

KILL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The destruction of an enemy plane or ship or tank or missile

Example:

the pilot reported two kills during the mission

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("kill" is a kind of...):

destruction; devastation (the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists)

Derivation:

kill (cause to cease operating)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of terminating a life

Synonyms:

kill; killing; putting to death

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("kill" is a kind of...):

conclusion; ending; termination (the act of ending something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "kill"):

genocide; race murder; racial extermination (systematic killing of a racial or cultural group)

beheading; decapitation (killing by cutting off the head)

electrocution (killing by electric shock)

ritual killing; sacrifice (the act of killing (an animal or person) in order to propitiate a deity)

asphyxiation; suffocation (killing by depriving of oxygen)

poisoning (the act of giving poison to a person or animal with the intent to kill)

slaughter (the killing of animals (as for food))

self-annihilation; self-destruction; suicide (the act of killing yourself)

fell (the act of felling something (as a tree))

despatch; dispatch (killing a person or animal)

homicide (the killing of a human being by another human being)

euthanasia; mercy killing (the act of killing someone painlessly (especially someone suffering from an incurable illness))

death (the act of killing)

coup de grace; deathblow (the blow that kills (usually mercifully))

Derivation:

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

kill (cause the death of, without intention)

kill (deprive of life)

kill (be fatal)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The body of an animal, or bodies of animals, killed by a person or another animal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("kill" is a kind of...):

body; dead body (a natural object consisting of a dead animal or person)

Derivation:

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

End or extinguish by forceful means

Example:

Stamp out poverty!

Synonyms:

kill; stamp out

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

end; terminate (bring to an end or halt)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Destroy a vitally essential quality of or in

Example:

Eating artichokes kills the taste of all other foods

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

destroy; destruct (do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of)

Verb group:

kill (cause to cease operating)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to cease operating

Example:

kill the engine

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

cut; switch off; turn off; turn out (cause to stop operating by disengaging a switch)

Verb group:

kill (tire out completely)

kill (destroy a vitally essential quality of or in)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

kill (the destruction of an enemy plane or ship or tank or missile)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Tire out completely

Example:

The daily stress of her work is killing her

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

beat; exhaust; tucker; tucker out; wash up (wear out completely)

Verb group:

kill (cause to cease operating)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sense 5

Meaning:

Mark for deletion, rub off, or erase

Example:

kill these lines in the President's speech

Synonyms:

kill; obliterate; wipe out

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

take away; take out (take out or remove)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Drink down entirely

Example:

They popped a few beer after work

Synonyms:

belt down; bolt down; down; drink down; kill; pop; pour down; toss off

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

drink; imbibe (take in liquids)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 7

Meaning:

Cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly

Example:

The farmer killed a pig for the holidays

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Cause:

buy the farm; cash in one's chips; choke; conk; croak; decease; die; drop dead; exit; expire; give-up the ghost; go; kick the bucket; pass; pass away; perish; pop off; snuff it (pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life)

Verb group:

kill (cause the death of, without intention)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "kill"):

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)

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)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to kill the prisoners

Also:

kill off (kill en masse; kill on a large scale; kill many)

Derivation:

killing (an event that causes someone to die)

killing (the act of terminating a life)

killer (the causal agent resulting in death)

killer (someone who causes the death of a person or animal)

killable (fit to kill, especially for food)

kill (the body of an animal, or bodies of animals, killed by a person or another animal)

kill (the act of terminating a life)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Cause the death of, without intention

Example:

She was killed in the collision of three cars

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Verb group:

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

kill (deprive of life)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "kill"):

electrocute (kill by electric shock)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

kill (the act of terminating a life)

killer (the causal agent resulting in death)

killing (an event that causes someone to die)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Deprive of life

Example:

AIDS has killed thousands in Africa

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Verb group:

kill (cause the death of, without intention)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "kill"):

strike down (cause to die, especially suddenly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

kill (the act of terminating a life)

Sense 10

Meaning:

Hit with great force

Example:

He killed the ball

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

hit (cause to move by striking)

Verb group:

kill (hit with so much force as to make a return impossible, in racket games)

Domain category:

athletics; sport (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 11

Meaning:

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

Example:

She killed the ball

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

hit (cause to move by striking)

Verb group:

kill (hit with great force)

Domain category:

athletics; sport (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 12

Meaning:

Overwhelm with hilarity, pleasure, or admiration

Example:

The comedian was so funny, he was killing me!

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

overcome; overpower; overtake; overwhelm; sweep over; whelm (overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sense 13

Meaning:

Be the source of great pain for

Example:

These new shoes are killing me!

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

ache; hurt; suffer (feel physical pain)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

killer (a difficulty that is hard to deal with)

Sense 14

Meaning:

Thwart the passage of

Example:

he shot down the student's proposal

Synonyms:

defeat; kill; shoot down; vote down; vote out

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

blackball; negative; veto (vote against; refuse to endorse; refuse to assent)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 15

Meaning:

Be fatal

Example:

drunken driving kills

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "kill" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

kill (the act of terminating a life)

Credits

 Context examples: 

It may make tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy, improve tumor images using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and kill cancer cells.

(Motexafin gadolinium, NCI Dictionary)

"Well, then, I shall kill you," Martin said.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Mustargen damages the cell's DNA and may kill cancer cells.

(Mustargen, NCI Dictionary)

And now here's Mr. Bennet gone away, and I know he will fight Wickham, wherever he meets him and then he will be killed, and what is to become of us all?

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

A-beefin’ and bellerin’ ’round, as though he’d kill you when he gets you! You know damn well he wont. Can’t afford to.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“You can kill the body, Mr. Hands, but not the spirit; you must know that already,” I replied.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Think, dear, that there have been times when brave men have killed their wives and their womenkind, to keep them from falling into the hands of the enemy.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Macrophages surround and kill microorganisms, ingest foreign material, remove dead cells, and boost immune responses.

(Monocyte, NCI Dictionary)

In cancer treatment, substances that kill cancer cells by targeting key molecules involved in cancer cell growth.

(Molecularly targeted therapy, NCI Dictionary)

Organic compounds and particular matter released when burning forests to clear land for agriculture can kill human lung cells or lead to irreversible damage to DNA, according to a new study.

(Lung damage from agricultural fires probed, SciDev.Net)

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