From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmassacremas‧sa‧cre1 /ˈmæsəkə $ -ər/ ●○○ noun 1 [countable, uncountable]SCCPM when a lot of people are killed violently, especially people who cannot defend themselves the only survivor of the massacremassacre of the massacre of several hundred pro-democracy demonstratorsthe Boston/Peterloo/Harperville etc massacre the infamous Peterloo massacre of 18192 [countable] informalDSLOSE A GAME, COMPETITION, OR WAR a very bad defeat in a game or competition United lost in a 9–0 massacre.
Examples from the Corpus
massacre• Chong plays a reporter who survives a massacre in the opening scenes, then tells her story on videotape.• The situation is probably a cyclic one anyway, with man only partly responsible for the present coral massacre.• I think the huge scale massacre of pheasants is revolting.• A charred baby carriage still stood on the altar steps, exactly where it had been found after the massacre.• He may have brought only dishonour to the name of the county but his involvement in the massacre should not be forgotten.• In the massacres that followed, however, thousands died.• The students claimed the two men had ordered the massacre of 200 people in Kwangju.• The soldiers who carried out the massacre have not been identified.• The bombing of Dresden was one of the worst massacres in European history.massacremassacre2 ●○○ verb [transitive] 1 PMSCCto kill a lot of people or animals in a violent way, especially when they cannot defend themselves The army massacred more than 150 unarmed civilians. Tens of thousands of dolphins and small whales are brutally massacred every year.► see thesaurus at kill2 informalDSLOSE A GAME, COMPETITION, OR WAR to defeat someone very badly in a game, competition etc The Cougars massacred the Bucs last night, 38–7.3 informal to spoil part of a play, a song etc by performing it very badly Unfortunately, Jones absolutely massacres the role of Ophelia.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
massacre• All of the films are about teenagers getting massacred by monsters.• A family of eight was massacred by unidentified gunmen.• They say we massacred him, but he would have massacred us had we not defended ourselves and fought to the death.• They have massacred hundreds of innocent people.• If you murder just one person you can be executed, and they massacred many.• The inquisitive Warlord turned to realign itself with its mechanical peers which strode onward together in line abreast, to massacre Marines.• In the distance smoke rose over the old city, where Hindu mobs were massacring Sikhs in reprisal for Indira's assassination.• Claims by refugees that 1000 people had been massacred were denied by the local authorities.Origin massacre1 (1500-1600) French 