Synonyms for slay
Synonyms by meaning
Verb
1. Slaughter — to kill; to murder
slaughter, destroy, smite, dispatch, despatch UK, assassinate, annihilate, murder, bump off, exterminate, do in, do for, massacre, butcher, make away with, go off, put to sleep, liquidate, off, offn US, finish off, dispose of, polish off, remove
2. Kill — to amaze, stun, or otherwise incapacitate by excellence; to excel at something
3. Sleep with — to have sex with
hit, sleep with, rock, coitize formal
Definitions
- v. 1
To kill; to murder.
The knight slew the dragon.
- v. 2
To amaze, stun, or otherwise incapacitate by excellence; to excel at something.
- v. 3
To have sex with.
Forms
- Past participle
- slain
e.g. slain → slaughtered, destroyed, smited, dispatched…
Choose the right word
To slay is to kill by a blow, or by a weapon.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- destroy Do you really think it will destroy my reputation?
- slaughter The slaughter of the prisoners was a barbarous act.
- assassinate I will assassinate you with only one of my looks.
- smite Smite his hard heart, and shake his reptile soul.
- conquer These are the Faces of Evil. You must conquer each.
- amuse He asked for a picture magazine to amuse himself.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| slay | rising | |
| destroy | steady | |
| slaughter | falling | |
| assassinate | rising | |
| smite | rising | |
| conquer | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- off1, hit1
- 4 letters
- kill1, rock1, rule1, offn
- 5 letters
- amuse2, smite, sleid
- 6 letters
- murder2, remove2, sleave
- 7 letters
- destroy2, butcher2, conquer2, coitize
- 8 letters
- massacre3, dispatch2, despatch
- 9 letters
- slaughter2, liquidate3
- 10 letters
- annihilate4
- 11 letters
- assassinate4, exterminate4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (amuse2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- occire
- Italiano
- uccidere
- Español
- matar
- Deutsch
- erschlagen