Words / B2

MAS-uh-k-uh/ˈmæsəkə/

A massacre is the violent killing of many people at once: date the massacre; a massacre of civilians. Killing is wider; genocide is the destruction of a people. Date it in the source, not the later march. Verb: massacre. Mix-up: mass is a crowd or church service (already elsewhere); massage is rubbing muscles. Do not write massacre for a sports defeat except as informal metaphor, and not in a history answer.

Meaning

The violent killing of many people at once.

Examples

• “Date the massacre in the source, not a later commemoration march.”
• “The editorial called the cuts a massacre of services, which is the metaphor sense — still justify it.”

Good to know

a massacre of; date / site of the massacre. Wider: killing. Trap: mass / massage. History and news. Mass killing, not a spa treatment.

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