Transcription
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
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- [kil awf, of]
- /kɪl ɔf, ɒf/
- /kɪl ɒf/
-
- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- [kil awf, of]
- /kɪl ɔf, ɒf/
Definitions of kill off words
- verb with object kill off to deprive of life in any manner; cause the death of; slay. Synonyms: slaughter, massacre, butcher; hang, electrocute, behead, guillotine, strangle, garrote; assassinate. 1
- verb with object kill off to destroy; do away with; extinguish: His response killed our hopes. 1
- verb with object kill off to destroy or neutralize the active qualities of: to kill an odor. 1
- verb with object kill off to spoil the effect of: His extra brushwork killed the painting. 1
- verb with object kill off to cause (time) to be consumed with seeming rapidity or with a minimum of boredom, especially by engaging in some easy activity or amusement of passing interest: I had to kill three hours before plane time. 1
- verb with object kill off to spend (time) unprofitably: He killed ten good years on that job. 1
Information block about the term
Origin of kill off
First appearance:
before 1175 One of the 8% oldest English words
1175-1225; Middle English cullen, killen to strike, beat, kill, Old English *cyllan; cognate with dialectal German küllen (Westphalian). See quell
Historical Comparancy
Parts of speech for Kill off
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
kill off popularity
A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 98% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".
kill off usage trend in Literature
This diagram is provided by Google Ngram ViewerSynonyms for kill off
verb kill off
- wipe out — an act of wiping: He gave a few quick wipes to the furniture.
- obliterate — to remove or destroy all traces of; do away with; destroy completely.
- annihilate — To annihilate something means to destroy it completely.
- slaughter — Frank, 1908–2001, U.S. novelist and physician.
- massacre — the unnecessary, indiscriminate killing of a large number of human beings or animals, as in barbarous warfare or persecution or for revenge or plunder.
Antonyms for kill off
verb kill off
- create — To create something means to cause it to happen or exist.
- build — If you build something, you make it by joining things together.
- bear — If you bear something somewhere, you carry it there or take it there.
- begin — To begin to do something means to start doing it.
- initiate — to begin, set going, or originate: to initiate major social reforms.
See also
Matching words
- Words starting with k
- Words starting with ki
- Words starting with kil
- Words starting with kill
- Words starting with killo
- Words starting with killof
- Words starting with killoff