Assassinate

• POS: Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: as=sas=si=nate

CIDE DICTIONARY

Assassinate, v. t. [LL. assassinatus, p. p. of assassinare.].

•  To kill by surprise or secret assault; to murder by treacherous violence.  [1913 Webster]

  "Help, neighbors, my house is broken open by force, and I am ravished, and like to be assassinated."  [1913 Webster]
•  To assail with murderous intent; hence, by extended meaning, to maltreat exceedingly.  [1913 Webster]

  "Your rhymes assassinate our fame."  [1913 Webster]

  "Such usage as your honorable lords
  Afford me, assassinated and betrayed."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- To kill; murder; slay. See Kill.

Assassinate, n. [F. assassinat.].

•  An assassination, murder, or murderous assault.  [1913 Webster]

  "If I had made an assassinate upon your father."  [1913 Webster]
•  An assassin.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Assassinate, v.tr. kill (esp. a political or religious leader) for political or religious motives.

Derivative

assassination n. assassinator n.

Etymology

med.L assassinare f. assassinus: see ASSASSIN

ROGET THESAURUS

Assassinate

Killing

VB kill, put to death, slay, shed blood, murder, assassinate, butcher, slaughter, victimize, immolate, massacre, take away life, deprive of life, make away with, put an end to, despatch, dispatch, burke, settle, do for, strangle, garrote, hang, throttle, choke, stifle, suffocate, stop the breath, smother, asphyxiate, drown, saber, cut down, cut to pieces, cut the throat, jugulate, stab, run through the body, bayonet, eviscerate, put to the sword, put to the edge of the sword, shoot dead, blow one's brains out, brain, knock on the head, stone, lapidate, give a deathblow, deal a deathblow, give a quietus, give a coupe de grace, behead, bowstring, electrocute, gas, hunt, shoot, cut off, nip in the bud, launch into eternity, send to one's last account, sign one's death warrant, strike the death knell of, give no quarter, pour out blood like water, decimate, run amuck, wade knee deep in blood, imbrue one's hands in blood, die a violent death, welter in one's blood, dash out one's brains, blow out one's brains, commit suicide, kill oneself, make away with oneself, put an end to oneself, put an end to it all.