Refine this word faster

Stronger alternatives Opposite tone Use in context Cross-language nuance

Kill

//kɪl// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
A surname.

Noun

1
The act of killing.
"The assassin liked to make a clean kill, and thus favored small arms over explosives."
2
A creek; a body of water; a channel or arm of the sea. New-York
"The channel beyond Staten Island, which connects Newark Bay with Bergen Neck is the Kill van Kull, or the Kills."
3
Alternative form of kiln. alt-of, alternative, rare
"This very curious and valuable record is as follows, in the handwriting of Conyers and the accompanying engraving is carefully reduced (see Fig. 138 ) from Conyers' own drawing:—“This kill was full of the coarser sorts of potts or cullings, so that few were saved whole, viz., lamps, bottles, urnes, dishes."
4
the destruction of an enemy plane or ship or tank or missile wordnet
5
Specifically, the death blow.
"The hunter delivered the kill with a pistol shot to the head."

Show 5 more definitions

6
the act of terminating a life wordnet
7
The result of killing; that which has been killed.
"The fox dragged its kill back to its den."
8
the body of an animal, or bodies of animals, killed by a person or another animal wordnet
9
An instance of killing; a score on the tally of enemy personnel or vehicles killed or destroyed. countable
"confirmed kills"
10
The grounding of the ball on the opponent's court, winning the rally.
"As a senior in 1993, Turner had a kill percentage of 40.8, which was a school record at the time and the best in the SAC. Turner concluded her volleyball career with 1,349 kills, ranking fifth all-time at Catawba."

Verb

1
To put to death; to extinguish the life of. transitive
"Smoking kills more people each year than alcohol and hard drugs combined."
2
end or extinguish by forceful means wordnet
3
To render inoperative. transitive
"He killed the engine and turned off the headlights, but remained in the car, waiting."
4
destroy a vitally essential quality of or in wordnet
5
To stop, cease, or render void; to terminate. figuratively, transitive
"The editor decided to kill the story."

Show 27 more definitions

6
cause to cease operating wordnet
7
To amaze, exceed, stun, or otherwise incapacitate. excessive, figuratively, transitive
"That night, she was dressed to kill."
8
tire out completely wordnet
9
To cause great pain, discomfort, or distress to; to hurt. excessive, figuratively, intransitive, transitive
"These tight shoes are killing my feet."
10
mark for deletion, rub off, or erase wordnet
11
To produce feelings of dissatisfaction or revulsion in. figuratively, transitive
"It kills me to throw out three whole turkeys, but I can't get anyone to take them and they've already started to go bad."
12
drink down entirely wordnet
13
To use up or to waste. transitive
"I'm just doing this to kill time."
14
cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly wordnet
15
To overpower, overwhelm, or defeat. figuratively, informal, transitive
"Look at the amount of destruction to the enemy base. We pretty much killed their ability to retaliate."
16
cause the death of, without intention wordnet
17
To force a company out of business. transitive
18
deprive of life wordnet
19
To punish severely. excessive, figuratively, informal, transitive
"My parents are going to kill me!"
20
hit with so much force as to make a return impossible, in racket games wordnet
21
To strike (a ball, etc.) with such force and placement as to make a shot that is impossible to defend against, usually winning a point. transitive
"That close call encouraged Wales to launch another series of attacks that ended when lock Louis Deacon killed the ball illegally in the shadow of England's posts."
22
overwhelm with hilarity, pleasure, or admiration wordnet
23
To cause (a ball, etc.) to be out of play, resulting in a stoppage of gameplay. transitive
"As the ball was delivered deep into St Kilda's forward line by Billings, Bontempelli had position on the goal line, with a pack forming in front of him. He decided to fly but didn't kill the ball, leaving it to spill where he had been positioned moments earlier. Jack Sinclair gratefully swooped and kicked a goal that cut the margin to five points."
24
be the source of great pain for wordnet
25
To succeed with an audience, especially in comedy.
"When comics fail, they "die"; when they succeed, they "kill.""
26
thwart the passage of wordnet
27
To cause to assume the value zero. informal, transitive
28
be fatal wordnet
29
To disconnect (a user) involuntarily from the network. Internet, transitive
30
To deadmelt.
31
To sexually penetrate in a skillful way. slang
"I felt on her big fat fanny Pulled out the jammy and killed the punanni"
32
To exert oneself to an excessive degree. informal, reflexive
"Don't kill yourself raking the leaves now; we're due for a windstorm tonight."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”). * Perhaps from unattested Old English *cyllan, from Proto-West Germanic *kwulljan, from Proto-Germanic *kwuljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to throw, hit, hurt by throwing”). * Or, possibly a variant of Old English cwellan (“to kill, murder, execute”) (see quell). * Or, from Old Norse kolla (“to hit on the head, harm”), related to Norwegian kylla (“to poll”), Middle Dutch kollen (“to knock down”), Icelandic kollur (“top, head”); see also coll, cole). Compare also Saterland Frisian källe (“to hurt”), Middle Dutch kellen (“to kill, hurt”), Middle Low German kellen, killen (“to ache strongly, cause one great pain”) (whence German Low German kellen, killen (“to hurt, injure, torment, vex”)), Middle High German kellen (“to torment; torture”).

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Borrowing from Dutch kil, from Middle Dutch kille, from Old Dutch *killa, from Proto-West Germanic *killjā, from Proto-Germanic *kiljǭ.

Etymology 4

* As a German and Dutch surname, probably shortened from Kilian. * Also as a German surname, from Kyll in the Eifel mountains, from Latin Celbis. * As a Jewish surname, probably from Yiddish קיל (kil, “cool”).

Next best steps

Find stronger synonyms See usage examples Check pronunciation

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: kill