I. ˈma-si-kər noun
Etymology: Middle French
Date: circa 1578
1. : the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty
2. : a cruel or wanton murder
3. : a wholesale slaughter of animals
4. : an act of complete destruction
the author's massacre of traditional federalist presuppositions — R. G. McCloskey
II. transitive verb
( mas·sa·cred ; mas·sa·cring -k(ə-)riŋ)
Date: 1581
1. : to kill by massacre : slaughter
2. : mangle 2
words were misspelled and syntax massacred — Bice Clemow
• mas·sa·crer -kər-ər, -krər noun