English > killing: 4 senses > noun 2, act| Meaning | The act of terminating a life. |
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| Synonyms | kill, putting to death |
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| Narrower | death | The act of killing |
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| deathblow, coup de grace | The blow that kills (usually mercifully) |
| decapitation, beheading | killing by cutting off the head |
| dispatch, despatch | killing a person or animal |
| electrocution | killing by electric shock |
| euthanasia, mercy killing | The act of killing someone painlessly (especially someone suffering from an incurable illness) |
| fell | The act of felling something (as a tree) |
| genocide, race murder, racial extermination | Systematic killing of a racial or cultural group |
| homicide | The killing of a human being by another human being |
| poisoning | The act of giving poison to a person or animal with the intent to kill |
| sacrifice, ritual killing | The act of killing (an animal or person) in order to propitiate a deity |
| slaughter | The killing of animals (as for food) |
| suffocation, asphyxiation | killing by depriving of oxygen |
| suicide, self-destruction, self-annihilation | The act of killing yourself |
| Broader | termination, ending, conclusion | The act of ending something |
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| Spanish | asesinato, homicidio, matanza, muerte |
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| Catalan | assassinat, homicidi, matança, mort |
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| Verbs | kill | cause to die |
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