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Definition of murder verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

murder

verb
 
/ˈmɜːdə(r)/
 
/ˈmɜːrdər/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they murder
 
/ˈmɜːdə(r)/
 
/ˈmɜːrdər/
he / she / it murders
 
/ˈmɜːdəz/
 
/ˈmɜːrdərz/
past simple murdered
 
/ˈmɜːdəd/
 
/ˈmɜːrdərd/
past participle murdered
 
/ˈmɜːdəd/
 
/ˈmɜːrdərd/
-ing form murdering
 
/ˈmɜːdərɪŋ/
 
/ˈmɜːrdərɪŋ/
Idioms
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  1. murder somebody to kill somebody deliberately and illegally
    • He denies murdering his wife's lover.
    • The boy was brutally murdered.
    • The murdered woman was well known in the area.
    • She was convicted of attempting to murder her husband.
    Extra Examples
    • He was found murdered in the cemetery.
    • Thirty people were murdered that day.
    • She was arrested and charged with murdering the two children.
    • They were murdered in cold blood.
    • He uncovered a conspiracy to murder the royal family.
    Topics Crime and punishmentb1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • brutally
    • cruelly
    • in cold blood
    verb + murder
    • attempt to
    • try to
    • plan to
    phrases
    • admit murdering somebody
    • deny murdering somebody
    • be accused of murdering somebody
    See full entry
  2. murder something to change something good into something bad because you do not do it very well synonym butcher
    • Critics accused him of murdering the English language (= writing or speaking it very badly).
  3. murder somebody (informal) to defeat somebody completely, especially in a team sport synonym thrash
    • England are getting murdered at the moment.
  4. Word OriginOld English morthor, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch moord and German Mord, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit mará ‘death’ and Latin mors; reinforced in Middle English by Old French murdre.
Idioms
I could murder a…
  1. (informal, especially British English) used to say that you very much want to eat or drink something
    • I could murder a beer.
somebody will/is going to murder you, me, etc.
  1. (informal) used to warn or predict that another person will be very angry with somebody/you
    • She's going to murder me if I don't get this finished on time.
See murder in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee murder in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
previously
adverb
 
 
From the Word list
Oxford 3000
B1
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