murder.
An act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination.
Meaning & usage
An act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination.
Throwing that punch was a murder whether you meant for it to happen or not.
There have been ten unsolved murders this year alone.
An act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination. The crime of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination.
The defendant was charged with murder.
An act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination. Short for felony murder, the act of committing or abetting a crime that results in the killing of a person, regardless of intent, even if the perpetrator did not directly kill the victim.
Both the arsonist and her partner were charged with murder, even though they had intended for it to be a victimless crime.
An act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination. The act of killing any being in an immoral manner; (countable) an instance of this.
Meat is murder.
An act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination. Synonym of murderer , a person who has unlawfully killed another.
Something difficult or terrible to endure.
I heard this class is murder.
This headache is murder.
Something remarkable or impressive.
A flock of crows or sometimes ravens.
A murder of crows dotted my backyard.
Every morning we woke up to the squawking of what seemed like a hundred murders in the trees above our campsite.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English murder, murdre, mourdre, alteration of earlier murthre (“murder”) (see murther), from Old English morþor (“secret slaying, unlawful killing”) and Old English myrþra (“murder, homicide”), both from Proto-West Germanic *morþr, from Proto-Germanic *murþrą (“death, killing, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tro- (“killing”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-, *mor-, *mr̥- (“to die”). Akin to Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr, “murder”), Old High German mord (“murder”), Old Norse morð (“murder”), Old English myrþrian (“to murder”) and morþ. The -d- in the Middle English form may have been influenced in part by Anglo-Norman murdre, from Old French murdre, from Medieval Latin murdrum (whence the English doublet of murdrum), from Frankish *morþr, *murþr (“murder”), from the same Germanic root, though this may also have been wholly the result of internal development (compare burden, from burthen and spider, from spiþra). (crows): Attested at least since 1475.
To illegally kill (a person or persons) with intent, especially with predetermination
The woman found dead in her kitchen was murdered by her husband.
To kill violently.
My uncle’s dog murdered my cat.
To defeat decisively.
Our team is going to murder them.
To kick someone's ass or chew someone out (used to express one’s anger at somebody).
He's torn my best shirt. When I see him, I'll murder him!
To botch or mangle.
To devour, ravish.
I could murder a hamburger right now.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English murder, murdre, mourdre, alteration of earlier murthre (“murder”) (see murther), from Old English morþor (“secret slaying, unlawful killing”) and Old English myrþra (“murder, homicide”), both from Proto-West Germanic *morþr, from Proto-Germanic *murþrą (“death, killing, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tro- (“killing”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-, *mor-, *mr̥- (“to die”). Akin to Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr, “murder”), Old High German mord (“murder”), Old Norse morð (“murder”), Old English myrþrian (“to murder”) and morþ. The -d- in the Middle English form may have been influenced in part by Anglo-Norman murdre, from Old French murdre, from Medieval Latin murdrum (whence the English doublet of murdrum), from Frankish *morþr, *murþr (“murder”), from the same Germanic root, though this may also have been wholly the result of internal development (compare burden, from burthen and spider, from spiþra). (crows): Attested at least since 1475.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.