[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/massacre.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / massacre

[← M](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/M/)

# massacre

«massacre» in Mova's school dictionary: **the cruel killing of many people who cannot defend…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a massacre, massacres); verb (massacre, massacres, massacred, massacring)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A massacre is the cruel killing of many people who cannot defend themselves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#m1)

2) To massacre people is to kill many of them in this way. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#m2)

3) (informal) In sport and games a massacre is a very heavy defeat: «It was a massacre: ten–nil!» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#m3)

4) (informal) To massacre a song or a language means to perform it very badly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In history lessons and news it is a very serious word for terrible events that people remember and mourn. In everyday sport talk it is an exaggeration. Phrases: «a terrible massacre», «remember the massacre», «it was a massacre».

### examples

- The massacre is remembered every year with a minute of silence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#x1)
- History books tell of massacres in many wars. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#x2)
- Soldiers massacred the people of the village. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#x3)
- Our team lost twelve–nil; it was a massacre. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#x4)
- (informal) Dad massacred that song at karaoke. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#x5)
- We learned how survivors told the story of the massacre. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#x6)
- Memorials help people remember victims of massacres. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#x7)
- (informal) Sorry, I massacred the French pronunciation. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#x8)
- It is no part of ours to describe what was a massacre rather than a fight. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/#x9)

### note

Say «MASS-uh-ker». Spelling: -cre, like «acre». Past: massacred. Be careful: the joking sport sense should not be used near people who have lost family in real massacres.

### In the corpora

- [The Nanjing massacre of 1937–1938 is widely documented, and China and Japan still disagree about how to remember the war.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/58-china-1911-1949-and-mao/16/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «massacre» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massacre/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.