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carnage Definition

car·nage (kär′nij)

noun

  1. bloody and extensive slaughter, esp. in battle; massacre; bloodshed

  2. Etymology: Fr < Prov carnatge, flesh < carn < L caro

    Obsolete dead bodies, esp. on a battlefield

Etymology: Fr < OIt carnaggio, ult. < L caro: carnal

carnage Synonyms

carnage

n.

slaughter, massacre, slaying, butchery, wholesale killing, mass murder, mass homicide, butchering, manslaughter, gore, blood, bloodshed, shambles, extermination, havoc, holocaust, hecatomb, warfare, annihilation, rapine, pogrom, slaying, bloodletting, blood bath, effusion of blood, saturnalia of blood, blood and guts*; see also destruction 1, murder.

carnage stresses the result of bloody and widespread killing and suggests the accumulation of the bodies of the slain; slaughter, as applied to people, suggests extensive and brutal killing, as in battle or by deliberate acts of wanton cruelty; massacre implies the indiscriminate and wholesale slaughter of those who are defenseless or helpless to resist; butchery adds implications of extreme cruelty and of such coldblooded heartlessness as one might display in the slaughtering of animals; pogrom refers to an organized, often officially sanctioned, massacre of a minority group, particularly of the Jews in eastern Europe

carnage Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • imagine: Imagine the carnage from a bomb exploding near a family with young children.
  • escape: Many civilians were drowned as they tried to escape the carnage by fleeing across the River Slaney.
  • stop: The United Nations Security Council should act swiftly to bring about pressure on both sides to stop the carnage.
  • cause: I could then see the carnage caused by the bullets, most of the gun crew had been killed or injured.
  • witness: In fact, their gigs often ended in rioting and the savvy McGee ensured the hacks always witnessed the carnage.
  • avoid: My eyes avoid the carnage in the sink, the corner where the rubbish bags overflow, the empty fridge.

Preposition: on

  • road: They suffer terrible carnage on the road from careless car drivers.
  • scale: People predicted carnage on a grand scale on Turkish beaches but it didnt happen.

Adjective modifier

  • utter: If the laws broke down, the whole place would descend into utter carnage, so the Japanese are keen to obey the laws.
  • bloody: The First World War is remembered as a time of bloody carnage.
  • terrible: They suffer terrible carnage on the road from careless car drivers.
  • absolute: If successful, any such attack would have caused absolute carnage.
  • maximum: We had suddenly been confronted with terrorists who would stop at nothing to cause maximum carnage.
  • total: E veryone parted, for in the next carriage there was total carnage.

Modifies a noun

meter: On top of this is a rather neat carnage meter.

Noun used with modifier

  • road: Scheme to force external control of vehicle speeds will cause road carnage.
  • Gujarat: It is Vivan's juvenile friends whom we hear in jingoist defense of the Gujarat carnage or other flagrant displays of communal fascism.

Preposition: of

  • war: The carnage of war left a mark on many of the men - not heroin.
  • battle: He plunged into the carnage of a hundred battles, but his good Excalibur always brought him out alive, albeit often sorely wounded.
  • year: It's a beautiful view - only tainted when one imagines the terrible carnage of sixty years before.