social murder

noun

The knowing causing of the inevitable premature death of members of an oppressed class by deliberately and structurally exposing them to potentially lethal conditions.

OriginGerman sozialer Mord →
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Meanings

nounsocial murder (plural social murders)

plural social murders

  1. governmentThe knowing causing of the inevitable premature death of members of an oppressed class by deliberately and structurally exposing them to potentially lethal conditions.

    Ich werde nun zu beweisen haben, daß die Gesellschaft in England diesen von den englischen Arbeiterzeitungen mit vollem Rechte als solchen bezeichneten sozialen Mord täglich und stündlich begeht; […]

    1962 [1845], Friedrich Engels, “Resultate”, in Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England (Marx-Engels Werke), volume 2, page 325; English translation from “Results”, in Florence Kelley, transl., The Condition of the Working Class in England (Marx/Engels Collected Works), volume 4, translation of original in German, 1975, page 394

Origin

  1. Germansozialer Mord
  2. Englishsocial murder

Calque of German sozialer Mord, first attested in Friedrich Engels' Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England. Engels attributes the phrase to English workers' newspapers.

More words from German

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch sociale moord
  • sociale moordsystemic causation of premature death
German sozialer Mord
  • sozialer Mordsystemic causation of premature death
Cite this entry
APA

social murder. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/social%20murder

MLA

“social murder.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/social%20murder. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “social murder,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/social%20murder.

Source: social murder on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.