killed
verb
Form of kill , past tense of kill.
Simple meaning
Cause the death of, without intention.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kildIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɪld
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
past tense of kill
Cause the death of, without intention
“She was killed in the collision of three cars.”
past tense of kill
Cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly
“This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bank.”
past tense of kill
To put to death; to extinguish the life of.
past tense of kill
Be the source of great pain for
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Cause the death of, without intention
Used this way, killed is a common word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“She was killed in the collision of three cars.”
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “killed in …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: killed in …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use killed
- “This man killed several people when he tried to rob a bank.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
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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.