GENOCIDE

genocide, race murder, racial extermination

(noun) systematic killing of a racial or cultural group

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

genocide (countable and uncountable, plural genocides)

The systematic killing of substantial numbers of people on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, social status, or other particularities.

(by extension) The systematic suppression of ideas on the basis of cultural or ethnic origin; culturicide.

(video games, roguelikes) The elimination of an entire class of monsters by the player.

Usage notes

Genocide was coined to mean, and is generally used in law to mean, the destruction of an ethnic group as such (as a group), whether by killing of all members of the group or other means, such as dispersing the group. In common usage, “genocide” is often used to mean “systematic mass killing”, whether or not the purpose is the destruction of a group or something else, such as terrorizing the group or killing a population without regard to group membership (democide).

Synonyms

• (systematic killing of substantial numbers of people): genticide

Verb

genocide (third-person singular simple present genocides, present participle genociding, simple past and past participle genocided)

(transitive) To commit genocide (against); to eliminate (a group of people) completely.