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assassinate definition

as·sas·si·nate (-āt′)

transitive verb assassinated -·nat′ed, assassinating -·nat′·ing

  1. to murder (esp. a politically important or prominent person) by surprise attack, usually for payment or from zealous belief
  2. to harm or ruin (someone's reputation, etc.), as by slander, vilification, etc.

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

assassinate Synonyms

assassinate

v.

kill, slay, slaughter, do in*; see kill 1. See syn. study atkill.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

assassinate Usage Examples

Object

  • activist: In one instance, missile systems used by the military to assassinate militant activists.

Adjective complement

  • former: Ten years ago, it was implicated in a plot to assassinate former President Bush during his visit to Kuwait.

Modifying Another Word

  • not: They did not assassinate any opponent for any reason whatsoever, even for composing insult poetry.

Preposition: in

  • street: Over that period of time 350 Iraqi scientists and 200 university professors have been assassinated in Iraqi streets when they were away from home.

Preposition: by

  • gunman: Would the result of the election have been the same had he not been assassinated by a lone gunman?
assassinate usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

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"assassinate." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/assassinate>

APA Style

assassinate. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/assassinate

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