slaughter
verb/ˈslɔːtə(r)/
/ˈslɔːtər/
[often passive]Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they slaughter | /ˈslɔːtə(r)/ /ˈslɔːtər/ |
he / she / it slaughters | /ˈslɔːtəz/ /ˈslɔːtərz/ |
past simple slaughtered | /ˈslɔːtəd/ /ˈslɔːtərd/ |
past participle slaughtered | /ˈslɔːtəd/ /ˈslɔːtərd/ |
-ing form slaughtering | /ˈslɔːtərɪŋ/ /ˈslɔːtərɪŋ/ |
- slaughter something to kill an animal, usually for its meat synonym butcher
- The lambs are taken to the local abattoir to be slaughtered.
Extra ExamplesTopics Farmingc2- The animals are all humanely slaughtered.
- Thousands of birds were slaughtered for their feathers.
- elephants illegally slaughtered by poachers
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- humanely
- ritually
- illegally
- …
- for
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- slaughter somebody/something to kill a large number of people or animals violently synonym massacre
- Men, women and children were slaughtered and villages destroyed.
Extra Examples- Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered.
- Thousands of people were systematically slaughtered by their oppressors.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- brutally
- cruelly
- indiscriminately
- …
- slaughter somebody/something (informal) to defeat somebody/something by a large number of points in a sports game, competition, etc.
- We were slaughtered 10–1 by the home team.
Word OriginMiddle English (as a noun): from Old Norse slátr ‘butcher's meat’; related to slay. The verb dates from the mid 16th cent.
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slaughter