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homicide

noun

Simple meaning

The killing of a human being by another human being.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

hahmuhsyd

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈhɑməsaɪd

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The killing of a human being by another human being

  2. countableuncountablecrime

    The killing of one person by another, whether premeditated or unintentional.

  3. countable

    A person who kills another.

  4. countableUSpolice jargon

    A victim of homicide; a person who has been unlawfully killed by someone else.

  5. uncountableus

    The department within a police force that investigates cases of homicide.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The killing of a human being by another human being

Used this way, homicide is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use homicide

  • “The detective investigated the case of homicide very carefully, looking for clues.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Department

homicide detectivehomicide case

Other combinations

negligent homicidevehicular homicidehomicide ratecriminal homicidehomicide investigationhomicide squad

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: killing of a human being by another human being

murder

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.