noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The murder of a person, especially for political reasons or for personal gain. countable, uncountable

   "The assassination of the king occurred at night."

2. 2
   murder of a public figure by surprise attack wordnet
3. 3
   an attack intended to ruin someone's reputation wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

homicidemurderblackwashcharacter assassinationcharacter assassinationdestruction

Example

More examples

"Assassination has never changed the history of the world."

Etymology

From assassinate + -ion.

Related phrases

assassination marketassassination marketplacecharacter assassinationroyal assassinationcold warroyal assassintargeted killing

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.