massacres

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of massacre.

   Investigators uncovered evidence of several massacres committed during the occupation.

   The memorial honors the victims of the massacres that scarred the region for decades.

   Note

   Only the countable massacre has a plural. Each massacre counts as a separate event, while the uncountable use (scenes of massacre) stays singular. The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb, so "the massacres" names events and "he massacres" names an act. The figurative sense carries over too: a string of lopsided defeats in a game or sport can be called massacres.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of massacre.

   Whenever the tyrant feels threatened, he massacres his rivals without mercy.

   The regime routinely massacres unarmed protesters to silence dissent.

   Note

   A transitive form that always wants its object: the army massacres villagers. The figurative uses keep the same grammar, so a team massacres its rivals and an amateur cast massacres a play. One use is proscribed: massacre meaning simply to kill brutally, even a single victim. Keep the word for killing in numbers, or for its figurative senses, and choose another verb for one brutal death.

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