This weed killer does not harm human beings.
Source: tatoeba (58513)
Killer
/ˈkɪlɚ/
Synonyms for "killer" (152 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (31)
Strong matches (45)
cutthroatdaisydemondesperadodevildillydragoneradicatorexecutionerexterminatorfiendfire eaterfire-eaterfirebrandfurygarrotergoongorillagungunman
Show 15 more words
gunselhardnosehatchet manhead hunterhead-hunterhell raiserhell-raiserhellcathellhoundhellionhit manholy terrorhomicidal maniachomicidehood
Adjective(1 words)
Related words (76)
Noun(25 words)
impressivekiller whalelethalmortalmurderermurderersmurderessmurderessesninjaorcaorcinus orcaoutstandingphenomenalpoisonersripperscorchersea wolfslayerssmothererspectacular
Show 5 more words
Choosing the right synonym
- Closest matches in this entry: slayer, airplane, alarm, apache, assassin.
- Sentence evidence is available for killer, so synonym choice can be checked against real usage rather than a flat word list.
- Ranking signals come from wordnet, opengloss, derived_reverse, moby, and related lexical sources.
Synonym selection checklist
- Match the part of speech before comparing meanings.
- Check whether the synonym changes intensity, formality, or emotional tone.
- Read the replacement inside the full sentence, not just beside "killer".
- Prefer the clearest word over the most unusual word when writing for speed or comprehension.
When not to replace "killer"
Keep "killer" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.
If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.
Replacement workflow
1. Preserve meaning
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "killer" intact in the sentence you are editing.
2. Tune tone
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
3. Re-read context
Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.
Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.
Final fit check
After choosing a replacement for "killer", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.
If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "killer" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
17 entriesactorcausal agencycausal agentcausecolloquial descriptorcriminaldangerousnessdestructive qualitydifficultnessdifficultydoerdolphinexclamationinformal adjectiveinterjectionperson
Showing 16 of 17 words.
More specific
12 entriesadmiration exclamationalarm exclamationassassinfatalhitmanlethalmass murdererphenomenalpraise exclamationspectacularvirulentwarning exclamation
Collocations
13 entrieskiller appkiller argumentkiller datasetkiller diseasekiller experimentkiller instinctkiller methodkiller performancekiller resultkiller toxinkiller viruskiller whaleserial killer
Inflections
3 entriesDerivations
3 entriesTranslations
170 translations across 86 languages.
Albanian
2 entries- vrasës noun (murderer, person who kills)
- vrasëse noun (murderer, person who kills)
Algerian Arabic
1 entries- قاتل noun (murderer, person who kills)
Amharic
1 entries- ገዳይ noun (murderer, person who kills)
Arabic
3 entries- قاتل noun (murderer, person who kills)
- قَاتِل noun (murderer, person who kills)
- قَاتِلَة noun (murderer, person who kills)
Armenian
1 entries- մարդասպան noun (murderer, person who kills)
Azerbaijani
1 entries- qatil noun (murderer, person who kills)
Basque
1 entries- hiltzaile noun (murderer, person who kills)
Belarusian
1 entries- забо́йца noun (murderer, person who kills)
Bengali
2 entries- কাতেল noun (murderer, person who kills)
- খুনী noun (murderer, person who kills)
Breton
1 entries- lazher noun (murderer, person who kills)
Bulgarian
2 entries- уби́ец noun (murderer, person who kills)
- уби́йца noun (murderer, person who kills)
Catalan
2 entries- assassí noun (murderer, person who kills)
- matador noun (murderer, person who kills)
Central Kurdish
2 entries- بکوژ noun (murderer, person who kills)
- کوژەر noun (murderer, person who kills)
Cherokee
1 entries- ᎠᏓᎯᎯ noun (murderer, person who kills)
Chichewa
2 entries- mpha noun (murderer, person who kills)
- wakupha noun (murderer, person who kills)
Chinese
1 entries- 殺手 /杀手 noun (murderer, person who kills)
Chinese Cantonese
1 entries- 殺手 /杀手 noun (murderer, person who kills)
Chinese Mandarin
3 entries- 兇手 /凶手 noun (murderer, person who kills)
- 殺人犯 /杀人犯 noun (murderer, person who kills)
- 殺手 /杀手 noun (murderer, person who kills)
Choctaw
1 entries- abi noun (murderer, person who kills)
Church Slavic
1 entries- оубиица noun (murderer, person who kills)
Czech
2 entries- vrah noun (murderer, person who kills)
- vražedkyně noun (murderer, person who kills)
Danish
3 entries- banemand noun (murderer, person who kills)
- drabsmand noun (murderer, person who kills)
- morder noun (murderer, person who kills)
Dari
4 entries- آدَمْکُش noun (murderer, person who kills)
- قَاتِل noun (murderer, person who kills)
- کُشَنْدَه noun (murderer, person who kills)
- کُشِنْدَه noun (murderer, person who kills)
Dutch
1 entries- doder noun (murderer, person who kills)
Esperanto
4 entries- mortigistino noun (murderer, person who kills)
- mortigisto noun (murderer, person who kills)
- murdintino noun (murderer, person who kills)
- murdinto noun (murderer, person who kills)
Estonian
1 entries- tapja noun (murderer, person who kills)
Finnish
1 entries- tappaja noun (murderer, person who kills)
French
4 entries- assassin noun (murderer, person who kills)
- assassine noun (murderer, person who kills)
- meurtrier noun (murderer, person who kills)
- meurtrière noun (murderer, person who kills)
Georgian
1 entries- მკვლელი noun (murderer, person who kills)
German
4 entries- Totschläger noun (murderer, person who kills)
- Totschlägerin noun (murderer, person who kills)
- Töter noun (murderer, person who kills)
- Töterin noun (murderer, person who kills)
Greek
4 entries- δολοφόνισσα noun (murderer, person who kills)
- δολοφόνος noun (murderer, person who kills)
- φονιάς noun (murderer, person who kills)
- φόνισσα noun (murderer, person who kills)
Hebrew
1 entries- רוֹצֵחַ \ רוצח noun (murderer, person who kills)
Hindi
3 entries- क़ातिल noun (murderer, person who kills)
- ख़ूनी noun (murderer, person who kills)
- हत्यारा noun (murderer, person who kills)
Hungarian
1 entries- gyilkos noun (murderer, person who kills)
Icelandic
1 entries- morðingi noun (murderer, person who kills)
Indonesian
1 entries- pembunuh noun (murderer, person who kills)
Ingrian
2 entries- mukistaja noun (murderer, person who kills)
- tappaja noun (murderer, person who kills)
Iranian Persian
4 entries- آدَمْکُش noun (murderer, person who kills)
- قاتِل noun (murderer, person who kills)
- کُشَنْدِه noun (murderer, person who kills)
- کُشِنْدِه noun (murderer, person who kills)
Irish
1 entries- marfóir noun (murderer, person who kills)
Italian
4 entries- assassina noun (murderer, person who kills)
- assassino noun (murderer, person who kills)
- ucciditrice noun (murderer, person who kills)
- uccisora noun (murderer, person who kills)
Japanese
3 entries- キラー noun (murderer, person who kills)
- 人殺し noun (murderer, person who kills)
- 殺人者 noun (murderer, person who kills)
Kazakh
3 entries- қаныпезер noun (murderer, person who kills)
- қанішер noun (murderer, person who kills)
- өлтіруші noun (murderer, person who kills)
Khmer
2 entries- ឃាតករ noun (murderer, person who kills)
- អ្នកសម្លាប់ noun (murderer, person who kills)
Korean
1 entries- 살인자 noun (murderer, person who kills)
Kyrgyz
2 entries- өлтүргүч noun (murderer, person who kills)
- өлтүрүүчү noun (murderer, person who kills)
Latgalian
1 entries- slapkauņs noun (murderer, person who kills)
Latin
4 entries- homicīda noun (murderer, person who kills)
- interfector noun (murderer, person who kills)
- necātor noun (murderer, person who kills)
- occīsor noun (murderer, person who kills)
Latvian
1 entries- slepkava noun (murderer, person who kills)
Lithuanian
3 entries- žmogžudys noun (murderer, person who kills)
- žmogžudė noun (murderer, person who kills)
- žudikas noun (murderer, person who kills)
Macedonian
1 entries- убиец noun (murderer, person who kills)
Malay
1 entries- pembunuh noun (murderer, person who kills)
Maltese
1 entries- qattiel noun (murderer, person who kills)
Mongolian
2 entries- алуурчин noun (murderer, person who kills)
- ᠠᠯᠠᠭᠤᠷᠴᠢᠨ noun (murderer, person who kills)
Norman
1 entries- tueux noun (murderer, person who kills)
Northern Kurdish
3 entries- bikuj noun (murderer, person who kills)
- kujer noun (murderer, person who kills)
- qatil noun (murderer, person who kills)
Norwegian Bokmål
2 entries- drapsmann noun (murderer, person who kills)
- morder noun (murderer, person who kills)
Norwegian Nynorsk
1 entries- drapsmann noun (murderer, person who kills)
Pannonian Rusyn
2 entries- забивач noun (murderer, person who kills)
- убийца noun (murderer, person who kills)
Pashto
2 entries- خوني noun (murderer, person who kills)
- قاتل noun (murderer, person who kills)
Polish
4 entries- morderca noun (murderer, person who kills)
- morderczyni noun (murderer, person who kills)
- zabójca noun (murderer, person who kills)
- zabójczyni noun (murderer, person who kills)
Portuguese
3 entries- assassina noun (murderer, person who kills)
- assassino noun (murderer, person who kills)
- homicida noun (murderer, person who kills)
Romanian
4 entries- asasin noun (murderer, person who kills)
- asasină noun (murderer, person who kills)
- ucigaș noun (murderer, person who kills)
- ucigașă noun (murderer, person who kills)
Russian
2 entries- ки́ллер noun (murderer, person who kills)
- уби́йца noun (murderer, person who kills)
Sanskrit
1 entries- घातक noun (murderer, person who kills)
Serbo-Croatian
4 entries- ùbica noun (murderer, person who kills)
- ùbojica noun (murderer, person who kills)
- у̀бица noun (murderer, person who kills)
- у̀бојица noun (murderer, person who kills)
Slovak
2 entries- vrah noun (murderer, person who kills)
- vrahyňa noun (murderer, person who kills)
Slovene
2 entries- morilec noun (murderer, person who kills)
- morilka noun (murderer, person who kills)
Southern Altai
1 entries- ӧлтӱречи noun (murderer, person who kills)
Spanish
4 entries- asesina noun (murderer, person who kills)
- asesino noun (murderer, person who kills)
- matador noun (murderer, person who kills)
- victimario noun (murderer, person who kills)
Sranan Tongo
1 entries- kiriman noun (murderer, person who kills)
Swahili
1 entries- mwuaji noun (murderer, person who kills)
Swedish
2 entries- baneman noun (murderer, person who kills)
- mördare noun (murderer, person who kills)
Tajik
3 entries- кушанда noun (murderer, person who kills)
- одамкуш noun (murderer, person who kills)
- қотил noun (murderer, person who kills)
Thai
1 entries- ฆาตกร noun (murderer, person who kills)
Tigrinya
1 entries- ቀታላይ noun (murderer, person who kills)
Tocharian B
1 entries- kauṣenta noun (murderer, person who kills)
Turkish
1 entries- katil noun (murderer, person who kills)
Turkmen
1 entries- ganhor noun (murderer, person who kills)
Ukrainian
2 entries- вби́вця noun (murderer, person who kills)
- уби́вця noun (murderer, person who kills)
Urdu
3 entries- خُونی noun (murderer, person who kills)
- قاتِل noun (murderer, person who kills)
- کُشِنْدَہ noun (murderer, person who kills)
Uyghur
1 entries- قاتىل noun (murderer, person who kills)
Uzbek
1 entries- qotil noun (murderer, person who kills)
Vietnamese
2 entries- kẻ giết người noun (murderer, person who kills)
- người giết noun (murderer, person who kills)
Wu Chinese
1 entries- 殺手 /杀手 noun (murderer, person who kills)
Yiddish
1 entries- מערדער noun (murderer, person who kills)
Zazaki
2 entries- kiştoğ noun (murderer, person who kills)
- kiştoğe noun (murderer, person who kills)
Sample sentences
31 total sentences available.
The killer remained at large for weeks.
Source: tatoeba (244943)
She ran for her life to get away from the killer.
Source: tatoeba (313859)
Betty is a serial killer.
Source: tatoeba (423490)
Showing 4 of 31 available sentences.
Common questions
What are the closest synonyms for "killer"?
Closest matches include slayer, airplane, alarm, apache, assassin.
How should I check whether a synonym fits "killer"?
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.