assassinate
verb
transitive verb
Synonyms
- bump off
- croak [slang]
- dispatch
- do in
- execute
- get
- ice [slang]
- knock off
- liquidate
- murder
- neutralize
- off [slang]
- put away
- rub out
- slay
- snuff
- take out
- terminate
- whack [slang]
Example Sentences
The Editorial Board, WSJ, 29 Aug. 2022 In 1957, Genovese tried (and failed) to assassinate Costello, who was ultimately injured and attempted to retire from the mafia. Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, 16 Aug. 2022 In 1957, Genovese tried (and failed) to assassinate Costello, who was ultimately injured and attempted to retire from the mafia. Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 16 Aug. 2022 In 2010, these Soros conspiracy theories drove a man to attempt to assassinate staff at a foundation that Beck had attacked for its associations with Soros. Melissa Gira Grant, The New Republic, 11 Aug. 2022 Biden’s desire to avoid civilian casualties, and the obvious lack of damage a conventional Hellfire warhead would inflict on a building, suggests the R-9X was used to assassinate al-Zawahiri. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 4 Aug. 2022 Phillips pointed to a 2011 plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., noting that Iranian agents sought to partner with a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the plot on U.S. soil. Michael Lee, Fox News, 2 Aug. 2022 His Jihad Group initiated a series of plots in the early 1980s to assassinate Egyptian leaders and played a role in the slaying of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on Oct. 6, 1981. Joby Warrick, Washington Post, 1 Aug. 2022 The agency is probing whether the suspect, federally charged with possession of a firearm that lacked a visible serial number, was there as part of a possible plot to neutralize or assassinate Masih Alinejad, two law enforcement sources said. Ken Dilanian, NBC News, 1 Aug. 2022 See More Word History
see assassin
1600, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Kids Definition
assassinate
verb
assassinate
verb
Synonyms & Similar Words
- murder
- slay
- execute
- kill
- destroy
- neutralize
- dispatch
- get
- shoot
- slaughter
- liquidate
- terminate
- whack
- snuff
- off
- take out
- rub out
- put away
- croak
- bump off
- ice
- knock off
- do in
- blow away
- eradicate
- eliminate
- exterminate
- massacre
- zap
- smite
- cut down
- claim
- fell
- shoot down
- annihilate
- butcher
- do away with
- carry off
- blot out
- wipe out
- mow (down)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- revive
- restore
- raise
- resurrect
- resuscitate
- animate
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of assassinate are dispatch, execute, kill, murder, and slay. While all these words mean "to deprive of life," assassinate applies to deliberate killing openly or secretly often for political motives.
The words dispatch and assassinate are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, dispatch stresses quickness and directness in putting to death.
Although the words execute and assassinate have much in common, execute stresses putting to death as a legal penalty.
The meanings of kill and assassinate largely overlap; however, kill merely states the fact of death caused by an agency in any manner.
The synonyms murder and assassinate are sometimes interchangeable, but murder specifically implies stealth and motive and premeditation and therefore full moral responsibility.
The words slay and assassinate can be used in similar contexts, but slay is a chiefly literary term implying deliberateness and violence but not necessarily motive.