assassination

UK/əˌsæs.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/US/əˌsæs.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/

nounC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,490 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: assassinations

An assassination is the murder of an important person. An assassination attempt, the assassination of the archduke, an assassination plot.

The killing at Sarajevo in 1914 is the one every history begins with, since it set off the First World War within weeks. Character assassination is the figurative use and means destroying a reputation deliberately.

Definitions of assassination

1nounassassinationThe murder of an important person.C1
“The assassination of President Lincoln shocked the nation in 1865.”

assassination is a murder.

Where it comes from

Middle French
assassiner
English
assassinate
English, today
assassination

From assassinate + -ion. assassinate comes from assassin + -ate, after Middle French assassiner.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

assassination in the wild

A person who commits an assassination is called an assassin.
Assassination
Oswald was charged with the assassination of Kennedy, but he denied responsibility for the killing, claiming that he was a patsy.
Lee Harvey Oswald
After the assassination, Oswald returned home to retrieve a pistol; he shot and killed a lone Dallas policeman J.
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Ronald Reagan is the only sitting president to have been wounded in an assassination attempt and survive.
List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots
Theodore Roosevelt was wounded in an assassination attempt as a former president.
List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots

1 / 3

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the assassiner family

assassination assassinated assassinate

assassination — used about once every 607 pages · #3,490 · point at the bar for the others

← Vocabulary