assassinate

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈsæsɪneɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈsæs(ə)nˌeɪt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: as‧sas‧sin‧ate

Etymology 1

From assassin +‎ -ate, after Middle French assassiner.

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.]

   Synonyms: erase, hit, murder; see also Thesaurus:kill

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Vertue”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, 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 […].

   • 1945 September 14 [1945 September 12], “North Korean Leader Slain in Reign of Terror”, in Chicago Daily Tribune‎^[1], volume CIV, number 221, page 3, column 5:

     A Korean Communist selected as a vice chairman of the government for north Korea in the Russian occupied zone was assassinated as he was leaving a conference with Col. Gen. Chistjakoff, commander of the soviet 25th army, a Korean refugee said today.

2. (figuratively) To harm, ruin, or defame severely or destroy by treachery, slander, libel, or obscure attack.

   Synonyms: besmirch, denigrate, traduce; see also Thesaurus:defame

   He assassinated his rival's character.

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

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

   • 1682 December 15 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John] Dryden, [Nathaniel] Lee, The Duke of Guise. A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] H[odgkin] for R[ichard] Bentley […], and J[acob] Tonson […], published 1683, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 62:

     But vvhen your Rhimes aſſaſſinate our Fame, / You hug your nauſeous, blund'ring Ballad-vvits, / And pay 'em as if Nonſence vvere a merit, / If it can mean but Treaſon.

Derived terms

• assassinatee
• assassinative
• assassinator
• assassinatrix
• character-assassinate
• unassassinated

Related terms

• assassin
• assassination

Translations

to murder by sudden or obscure attack

• Afrikaans: vermoor
• 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 / 刺杀 (zh) (cìshā), 暗殺 / 暗杀 (zh) (ànshā)

• Czech: zavraždit (cs)
• Danish: myrde (da), snigmyrde
• Dutch: vermoorden (nl)
• Esperanto: murdi (eo)
• Estonian: mõrvama (et)
• Finnish: murhata (fi)
• French: assassiner (fr)
• German: ermorden (de), liquidieren (de), meucheln (de), Meuchelmord begehen
• Greek: εκτελώ (el) (ekteló)
• Hebrew: התנקש (hitnakésh)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} ráða af lífi, ^{(please verify)} ráða af dögum
• Ido: asasinar (io)
• 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: necō (la)

  Classical Latin: per īnsidiās interficiō

  Medieval Latin: assassīnō

• Occitan: assassinar (oc)
• Portuguese: assassinar (pt)
• Romanian: asasina (ro)
• Russian: убива́ть (ru) impf (ubivátʹ), уби́ть (ru) pf (ubítʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сма̀кнути pf

  Latin: smàknuti (sh) pf

• Sotho: bolaya (st)
• 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

Etymology 2

From assassin +‎ -ate (noun-forming suffix).

Noun

assassinate (plural assassinates)

1. (obsolete) Assassination, murder.
   • 1609 December (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Epicoene, or The Silent Woman. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, (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: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, 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

• Assassination on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• murder
• regicide

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