n. 25B6; noun
a brutal murder : KILLING, homicide, assassination, liquidation, extermination, execution, slaughter, butchery, massacre; manslaughter; poetic/literary slaying.
(informal) driving there was murder : HELL (ON EARTH), a nightmare, an ordeal, a trial, misery, torture, agony.
25B6; verb
someone tried to murder him : KILL, put/do to death, assassinate, execute, liquidate, eliminate, dispatch, butcher, slaughter, massacre, wipe out; informal bump off, do in, do away with, knock off, blow away, blow someone's brains out, take out, dispose of; N. Amer. informal ice, rub out, smoke, waste; poetic/literary slay.
(informal) Anna was murdering a Mozart sonata. : See mangle sense 2.
(informal) he murdered his opponent. : See trounce .