genocide

[jen-uh-sahyd] /ˈdʒɛn əˌsaɪd/
noun
1.
the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.
Origin
1940-45; < Greek géno(s) race + -cide
Related forms
genocidal, adjective
Examples from the web for genocide
  • It is sometimes used interchangeably with the more connotatively severe term genocide.
  • Such acts could also fall within the meaning of the genocide convention.
  • This provocative outcry of genocide was voiced only decades later.
  • He has also been vocal in speaking out against the genocide occurring in darfur.
British Dictionary definitions for genocide

genocide

/ˈdʒɛnəʊˌsaɪd/
noun
1.
the policy of deliberately killing a nationality or ethnic group
Derived Forms
genocidal, adjective
Word Origin
C20: from geno-, from Greek genos race + -cide
Word Origin and History for genocide
n.

1944, apparently coined by Polish-born U.S. jurist Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959) in his work "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe" [p.19], in reference to Nazi extermination of Jews, literally "killing a tribe," from Greek genos "race, kind" (see genus) + -cide. The proper formation would be *genticide.

Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. [Lemkin]
Earlier in a similar sense was populicide (1799), from French populicide, by 1792, a word from the Revolution. This was taken into German, e.g. Völkermeuchelnden "genocidal" (Heine), which was Englished 1893 as folk-murdering.

genocide in Culture
genocide [(jen-uh-seyed)]

The deliberate destruction of an entire race or nation. The Holocaust conducted by the Nazis in Germany and the Rwandan genocide are examples of attempts at genocide.