kill

v.

1. To deprive of life

   slay, slaughter, murder, assassinate, massacre, butcher, execute, put to death, dispatch, hang, lynch, electrocute, knife, immolate, sacrifice, shoot, strangle, garrote, stifle, poison, choke, smother, suffocate, asphyxiate, drown, behead, hack, guillotine, crucify, dismember, decapitate, disembowel, quarter, tear limb from limb, destroy, give the death blow, give the coup de grÂce, take someone's life, put an end to, victimize, martyr, exterminate, purge, stab, cut the throat, shoot down, put to the sword, mangle, cut down, bring down, mow down, machine-gun, decimate, carry off, pick off, liquidate, eliminate, remove, put one out of one's misery, put to sleep, put away, euthanize, starve, bludgeon, make away with, do away with, commit murder, spill blood, bump off*, rub out*, wipe out*, hit*, erase*, waste*, grease*, take for a ride*, do in*, knock off*, heave overboard*, finish off*, get rid of*, blow one's brains out*, send to glory*, brain*, zap*, ice*, off*, blow away*.

   Antonyms rescue*, resuscitate*, animate. *

2. To deprive of existence

   exterminate, ruin, annihilate; see abolish, destroy 1.

3. To cancel

   annul, nullify, counteract; see cancel 2, recant, revoke.

4. To turn off

   halt, shut off, stop; see halt 2, turn off 1.

5. To veto

   cancel, prohibit, refuse; see forbid, refuse.

kill is the general word in this list, meaning to cause the death of in any way, and may be applied to persons, animals, or plants; slay, now largely a literary word, implies deliberate and violent killing; murder applies to an unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing; assassinate implies specifically the sudden killing of a politically important person, often by someone hired or delegated to do this; execute denotes a killing in accordance with a legally imposed sentence; dispatch suggests a killing by direct action, such as shooting, and emphasizes speed or promptness