assassinate

English

Etymology

From assassin +‎ -ate, after Middle French assassiner.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əˈsasɪneɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

assassinate (third-person singular simple present assassinates, present participle assassinating, simple past and past participle assassinated)

1. To murder someone, especially an important person, by a sudden or obscure attack, especially for ideological or political reasons. [from 17th c.]
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Vertue”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821, page 408:

     The Assassines, a nation depending of Phœnicia, are esteemed among the Mahometists […]. And thus was our Earle Raymond of Tripoli murthered or assassinated (this word is borrowed from their name) in the middest of his Citie, during the time of our warres in the holy land […].

2. (figuratively) To harm, ruin, or defame severely or destroy by treachery, slander, libel, or obscure attack.
   • 1682, John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee, The Duke of Guise

     Your rhymes assassinate our fame.

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, page 67:

     Such uſage as your honourable Lords / Afford me aſſaſſinated and betray'd,

Related terms

• assassin
• assassination
• royal assassin

Translations

to murder by sudden or obscure attack

• Arabic: اِغْتَالَ‎ (iḡtāla)
• Armenian: սպանել (hy) (spanel)
• Belarusian: забіва́ць (be) impf (zabivácʹ), забі́ць (be) pf (zabícʹ)
• Bulgarian: убивам (bg) (ubivam), умъртвявам (bg) (umǎrtvjavam)
• Catalan: assassinar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 刺殺 (zh), 刺杀 (zh) (cìshā), 暗殺 (zh), 暗杀 (zh) (ànshā)

• Czech: zavraždit (cs)
• Dutch: vermoorden (nl)
• Esperanto: murdi
• Estonian: mõrvama (et)
• Finnish: murhata (fi)
• French: assassiner (fr)
• German: ermorden (de), meucheln (de), Meuchelmord begehen
• Greek: εκτελώ (el) (ekteló)
• Hebrew: התנקש‎ (hitnakésh)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} ráða af lífi, ^{(please verify)} ráða af dögum
• Irish: feallmharaigh
• Italian: assassinare (it)

• Japanese: 暗殺する (ja) (あんさつする, ansatsu-suru)
• Korean: 암살(暗殺)하다 (ko) (amsalhada)
• Latin: necare (la)

  Classical: per īnsidiās interficiō

  Medieval: assassīnō

• Occitan: assassinar (oc)
• Portuguese: assassinar (pt)
• Romanian: asasina (ro)
• Russian: убива́ть (ru) impf (ubivátʹ), уби́ть (ru) pf (ubítʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: smaknuti (sh)
• Spanish: asesinar (es)
• Swedish: lönnmörda (sv)
• Tagalog: linguhin
• Tajik: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: ลอบสังหาร (lɔ̂ɔp-sǎng-hǎan), ลอบฆ่า
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: öldürmek (tr)
• Vietnamese: ám sát (vi) (暗殺)
• Welsh: bradlofruddio

Noun

assassinate (plural assassinates)

1. (obsolete) Assassination, murder.
   • 1609 December (first performance)​, Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Epicoene, or The Silent Woman. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Ben Jonson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, OCLC 960101342, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     , originally Act II Scene II page 187 but Scene I in Gifford’s 1816 edition volume III pages 367–368

     Mor. Why? if I had made an assassinate upon your Father; vitiated your Mother: ravished your Sisters―
     Tru. I would kill you, Sir, I would kill you, if you had.
     Mor. Why? you do more in this, Sir: it were a vengeance centuple, for all facinorous Acts, that could be nam'd, to do that you do.

2. (obsolete) An assassin.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Symptomes of the minde”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970, partition 1, section 3, member 1, subsection 2, page 164:

     Yet again, many of them deſperat hairebraines, raſh, careleſſe, fit to be Aſſaſinates, as being voide of all Feare and Sorrow […]

Translations

assassination — see assassination

assassin — see assassin

See also

• Wikipedia article on Assassins
• murder
• regicide

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Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

assassinate

1. inflection of assassinare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

assassinate f pl

1. feminine plural of assassinato