murder synonyms

murder

n.

killing, homicide, unlawful homicide, death, destruction, annihilation, carnage, putting an end to, slaying, shooting, knifing, assassination, terrorism, dispatching, lynching, crime, felony, killing with malice aforethought, murder in the first degree, first degree murder, contract killing, murder in the second degree, murder in the third degree, manslaughter, massacre, genocide, butchery, mayhem, patricide, matricide, infanticide, fratricide, genocide, the Holocaust, suicide, foul play, ride*, dust-off*, bump-off*, the works*, the business*, one-way ticket*, dowser*; see also crime 2.

get away with murder*

escape punishment, take flight, avoid prosecution, avoid punishment; see evade 1.

murder

v.

  1. To kill unlawfully

    slay, assassinate, butcher; see kill 1.

  2. *To ruin, especially by incompetence

    spoil, mar, misuse; see botch, destroy 1, fail 1. See syn. study at kill.

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.