kill
Synonyms:
assassinate, behead, butcher, carry off, claim, croak [slang], destroy, dispatch, do in, electrocute, execute, fell, garrote, genocide, guillotine, hang, homicide, massacre, murder, slaughter, slay, strangle, take.
Related Words:
asphyxiate, crucify, drown, dump, erase, extirpate, get, hit, neutralize, poison, stop.
Antonym:
animate.
Synonym Study 1 (Dictionary.com):
Kill, execute, and murder all mean to deprive of life.
Kill is the general word, with no implication of the manner of killing, the agent or cause, or the nature of what is killed (whether human being, animal, or plant):
to kill a person.
Execute is used with reference to the putting to death of one in accordance with a legal sentence, no matter what the means are:
to execute a criminal.
Murder is used of killing a human being unlawfully:
He murdered him for his money.
Synonym Study 2 (Merriam-Webster):
Kill, slay, murder, assassinate, dispatch, and execute mean to deprive of life.
Kill merely states the fact of death caused by an agency in any manner:
killed in an accident; frost killed the plants.
Slay is a chiefly literary term implying deliberateness and violence but not necessarily motive:
slew thousands of the Philistines.
Murder specifically implies stealth and motive and premeditation and therefore full moral responsibility:
convicted of murdering a rival.
Assassinate applies to deliberate killing openly or secretly often for political motives:
terrorists assassinated the Senator.
Dispatch stresses quickness and directness in putting to death:
dispatched the sentry with one bullet.
Execute stresses putting to death as a legal penalty:
executed by lethal gas.
Synonym Study 3:
Kill, murder, and assassinate mean to take the life of.
Kill doesn't specify the manner of death and can apply to the death of anything:
an early frost killed the crops; there was a person killed in the accident.
Murder is used for the deliberate and unlawful killing of a person:
he was arrested for murdering a rival.
Assassinate is usually used for the murder of an important person often for political reasons:
there was a secret plan to assassinate the candidate.
Origin:
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English cullen, killen “to strike, beat, kill,” Old English cyllan (unattested); cognate with dialectal German küllen (Westphalian). Cf. quell. Kill 2: 1660–70, Americanism; < Dutch kil, Middle Dutch kille channel. [British Dictionary:] C13 cullen; perhaps related to Old English cwellan to kill; compare German (Westphalian dialect) küllen; see quell. Kill 2: C17: from Middle Dutch kille; compare Old Norse kīll small bay, creek. —Dictionary.com.
First Known Use of kill: Verb: 14th century. Noun (1): 1814. Noun (2): 1669. History and Etymology for kill: Verb and Noun (1): Middle English, perhaps from Old English *cyllan; akin to Old English cwellan to kill — more at quell. Noun (2): Dutch kil. —Merriam-Webster.
Sources: 1, 2.
Updated: 26 July 2020 {8:33 PM}
assassinate, behead, butcher, carry off, claim, croak [slang], destroy, dispatch, do in, electrocute, execute, fell, garrote, genocide, guillotine, hang, homicide, massacre, murder, slaughter, slay, strangle, take.
Related Words:
asphyxiate, crucify, drown, dump, erase, extirpate, get, hit, neutralize, poison, stop.
Antonym:
animate.
Synonym Study 1 (Dictionary.com):
Kill, execute, and murder all mean to deprive of life.
Kill is the general word, with no implication of the manner of killing, the agent or cause, or the nature of what is killed (whether human being, animal, or plant):
to kill a person.
Execute is used with reference to the putting to death of one in accordance with a legal sentence, no matter what the means are:
to execute a criminal.
Murder is used of killing a human being unlawfully:
He murdered him for his money.
Synonym Study 2 (Merriam-Webster):
Kill, slay, murder, assassinate, dispatch, and execute mean to deprive of life.
Kill merely states the fact of death caused by an agency in any manner:
killed in an accident; frost killed the plants.
Slay is a chiefly literary term implying deliberateness and violence but not necessarily motive:
slew thousands of the Philistines.
Murder specifically implies stealth and motive and premeditation and therefore full moral responsibility:
convicted of murdering a rival.
Assassinate applies to deliberate killing openly or secretly often for political motives:
terrorists assassinated the Senator.
Dispatch stresses quickness and directness in putting to death:
dispatched the sentry with one bullet.
Execute stresses putting to death as a legal penalty:
executed by lethal gas.
Synonym Study 3:
Kill, murder, and assassinate mean to take the life of.
Kill doesn't specify the manner of death and can apply to the death of anything:
an early frost killed the crops; there was a person killed in the accident.
Murder is used for the deliberate and unlawful killing of a person:
he was arrested for murdering a rival.
Assassinate is usually used for the murder of an important person often for political reasons:
there was a secret plan to assassinate the candidate.
Origin:
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English cullen, killen “to strike, beat, kill,” Old English cyllan (unattested); cognate with dialectal German küllen (Westphalian). Cf. quell. Kill 2: 1660–70, Americanism; < Dutch kil, Middle Dutch kille channel. [British Dictionary:] C13 cullen; perhaps related to Old English cwellan to kill; compare German (Westphalian dialect) küllen; see quell. Kill 2: C17: from Middle Dutch kille; compare Old Norse kīll small bay, creek. —Dictionary.com.
First Known Use of kill: Verb: 14th century. Noun (1): 1814. Noun (2): 1669. History and Etymology for kill: Verb and Noun (1): Middle English, perhaps from Old English *cyllan; akin to Old English cwellan to kill — more at quell. Noun (2): Dutch kil. —Merriam-Webster.
Sources: 1, 2.
Updated: 26 July 2020 {8:33 PM}