Meanings
plural genocides
- countableuncountableThe systematic and deliberate destruction of a group of people; typically by killing substantial numbers of them, on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, or similar grounds.First known use 1940s
A genocide will always be followed by the denial that it ever happened.
5 more examples
For the German occupying authorities war thus appears to offer the most appropriate occasion for carrying out their policy of genocide.
1944 November 28, “Analysis of Government - Proposals for Redress” (chapter chapter 9), in Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, page 79Shaddam IV: I want fifty legion of Sardaukar on Arrakis at once! Subordinate: Fifty legions? That's our entire reserves as well. Shaddam IV: This is genocide: the deliberate and systematic destruction of all life on Arrakis!
1984, 1:49:22 from the start, in Dune (science fiction), spoken by Shaddam IV, →OCLCThough most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone.
2008 June 1, A. Dirk Moses, “Preface”, in Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page xIncorporating a global-comparative perspective on the genocides of the last half millennium has enabled important advances in the understanding of events central to the genocide studies field – such as the process of Ottoman imperial dissolution, reciprocal genocidal killing (during the “Unweaving” in the Balkans), and complex international jockeying that factored into the massive anti-Christian slaughters in Anatolia in 1915 and thereafter.
2011, Adam Jones, Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction, 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN, page 65A genocide denier is an apologist for the next genocide. […] Mr. Handke is the Bob Dylan of genocide apologists.
2019 October 15, Aleksandar Hemon, “‘The Bob Dylan of Genocide Apologists’”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Apr 2020Synonyms: genticide
- broadlycountableuncountableThe systematic suppression of ideas or practices on the basis of cultural or ethnic origin; culturicide.
linguistic genocide
1 more example
Native Americans in the twentieth century are no longer a "vanishing race" or a silent minority. They have survived centuries of cultural genocide inflicted on them by non-Native Americans— both the well-meaning and the self-seeking— […]
1986, James Stuart Olson, Raymond Wilson, Native Americans in the Twentieth Century, →ISBN - countableuncountablevideo gamesThe elimination of an entire class of monsters by the player in roguelikes.
The three main playstyles are neutral (the player kills some, but not all monsters), pacifist (all monsters are spared) and genocide (all monsters are eliminated).
2022 May 29, Gabriel Elvery, “Undertale’s Loveable Monsters: Investigating Parasocial Relationships with Non-Player Characters”, in Games and Culture, volume 18, number 4, page 4772 more examples
I used genocide in my first ascension, but have been genocideless ever since. Makes the game much more interesting, but then again, if one hasn't ascended yet, it will be interesting anyway.
2000, Kimmo Kasila, “Arch lich at Minetown bones, Help!”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack (Usenet)What an Extinctionist tries to do is completely eliminate as many kinds of monsters from the game as possible, either through genocide if it's available, or from just depleting all the kinds of monsters that can be produced.
2020, John Harris, Exploring Roguelike Games, CRC Press, →ISBN
present singular third person genocides · participle present genociding · participle past genocided · past genocided
- transitiveTo commit genocide (against); to eliminate (a group of people) completely.
A clue appears in the Nazis finding the Gypsies dirty and disorderly (for not only Jews were genocided).
2006, Get 'Em All! Kill 'Em!: Genocide, Terrorism, Righteous Communities, page 83 more examples
Even though the Soviet constitution and that of the Ukrainian SSR contain provisions guaranteeing freedom of religion and other fundamental liberties, the Soviet government genocided the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the 1930's […]
1986-06-17, Oversight of the Board for International Broadcasting: hearing before the Subcommittee on International Operations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, volume 4, House of Representatives, Ninety-Ninth Congress, second session, page 145You just know it makes much more sense to encourage brutal governments to buy our WMD technology than to get them to put food in the empty bellies of their people or quit genociding the populace.
2007, War on Truth: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Invasion of Iraq, page 66It is unlikely that Sulla succeeded in genociding the Samnites, since their mountains offered many refuges, but in subsequent centuries the Samnites disappeared, being absorbed into the general population of Italy.
2016, Conflict in Ancient Greece and Rome: The Definitive Political, Social, and Military Encyclopedia, page 1193
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe systematic and deliberate destruction of a group of people; typically by killing substantial numbers of them, on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, or similar grounds.
More synonyms by meaning
nounsystematic killing of a racial or cultural group
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵenh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵénh₁os
- Proto-Hellenic*génos
- Ancient Greekγένος (génos)
- Proto-Indo-European*kh₂eyd-
- Proto-Indo-European*kh₂éydeti
- Proto-Italic*kaidō
- Latincaedō
- Englishgenocide
From the stem of Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “race, kind”) (cognate with Latin gēns (“tribe, clan”), whence genus), corresponding to geno- + -cide (“killing”). Piecewise doublet of gendercide. Compare genticide. Coined by Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1943 or 1944 in reference to the Armenian Genocide (then known by other names; for more information, see Terminology of the Armenian genocide on Wikipedia), massacres of Assyrians (such as the Simele massacre and Seyfo) and the Jewish Holocaust.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans volksmoord
- volksmoordsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Arabic إِبَادَة جَمَاعِيَّة
- إِبَادَة جَمَاعِيَّة (ʔibāda jamāʕiyya)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Basque genozidio
- genozidiosystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Bengali গণহত্যা
- গণহত্যা (gonohotta)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Bulgarian геноци́д
- геноци́д (genocíd)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Catalan genocidi
- genocidisystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Chinese Mandarin 種族滅絕 /种族灭绝
- 種族滅絕 /种族灭绝 (zhǒngzú mièjué)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Czech genocida
- genocidasystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Danish folkemord, folkedrab
- folkemordsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- folkedrabsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Dutch volkerenmoord, genocide
- volkerenmoordsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- genocidesystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- soortmoordsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Esperanto genocido
- genocidosystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Estonian genotsiid
- genotsiidsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Finnish kansanmurha, joukkotuhonta
- kansanmurhasystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- joukkotuhontasystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
French génocide
- génocidesystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
German Völkermord, Genozid
- Völkermordsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- Genozidsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Greek γενοκτονία
- γενοκτονία (genoktonía)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Hebrew רֶצַח עַם, הַשְׁמָדַת עַם
- רֶצַח עַם (rétsakh am)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- הַשְׁמָדַת עַם (hashmadát am)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- גֶ׳נוֹסַיְד (jénosayd)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Hindi नरसंहार, जन-वध
- नरसंहार (narsãhār)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- जन-वध (jan-vadh)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- जातिसंहार (jātisãhār)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- जातिवध (jātivadh)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- नस्लकुशी (naslakuśī)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Hungarian népirtás, fajirtás
- népirtássystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- fajirtássystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- genocídiumsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Icelandic þjóðarmorð
- þjóðarmorðsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Indonesian pembantaian, genosida
- pembantaiansystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- genosidasystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Irish cinedhíothú
- cinedhíothúsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Italian genocidio
- genocidiosystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Japanese 集団虐殺, ジェノサイド
- 集団虐殺 (shūdan gyakusatsu)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- ジェノサイド (jenosaido)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- 大量虐殺 (tairyō gyakusatsu)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Korean 대량학살, 집단학살
- 대량학살 (daeryanghaksal)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- 집단학살 (jipdanhaksal)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- 집단살해 (jipdansalhae)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- 제노사이드 (jenosaideu)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Latin genocīdium
- genocīdiumsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Latvian genocīds
- genocīdssystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Lithuanian genocidas
- genocidassystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Malay pembasmian kaum, genosid
- pembasmian kaumsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- genosidsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- genosidasystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Norwegian Bokmål folkemord
- folkemordsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Persian نسلکشی
- نسلکشی (nasl-koši)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Polish ludobójstwo, genocyd
- ludobójstwosystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- genocydsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Portuguese genocídio
- genocídiosystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Punjabi ਨਸਲਕੁਸ਼ੀ
- ਨਸਲਕੁਸ਼ੀ (naslakuśī)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Romanian genocid
- genocidsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Russian геноци́д
- геноци́д (genocíd)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Scottish Gaelic sgrios-cinnidh
- sgrios-cinnidhsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Slovak genocída
- genocídasystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Spanish genocidio
- genocidiosystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Swahili mauaji ya halaiki
- mauaji ya halaikisystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Swedish folkmord, genocid
- folkmordsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- genocidsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Tagalog henosidyo
- henosidyosystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Tamil இனப்படுகொலை, இனஅழிப்பு
- இனப்படுகொலை (iṉappaṭukolai)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- இனஅழிப்பு (iṉa’aḻippu)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Thai การฆ่าล้างเผ่าพันธุ์
- การฆ่าล้างเผ่าพันธุ์ (gaan-kâa-láang-pào-pan)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Turkish soykırım, jenosit
- soykırımsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- jenositsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Ukrainian геноци́д
- геноци́д (henocýd)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Urdu نَسَل کُشی
- نَسَل کُشی (nasl kuśī)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Vietnamese diệt chủng
- diệt chủngsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Welsh hil-laddiad
- hil-laddiadsystematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Yiddish גענאָציד, פֿעלקערמאָרד
- גענאָציד (genotsid)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
- פֿעלקערמאָרד (felkermord)systematic killing of substantial numbers of people
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
genocide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/genocide
“genocide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/genocide. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “genocide,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/genocide.
Source: genocide on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.