What does "kill" mean?

Q: What does "kill" mean?

1. (to end a life) to cause the death of a person, animal, or plant. 2. (to cause pain) to cause someone a lot of physical pain or discomfort. 3. (to stop or cancel) to stop a process, turn off an engine, or cancel a plan. 4. (to waste time) to spend time doing something unimportant while waiting for something else. 5. (to do something very well) to perform exceptionally well or be very successful at something. 6. (to work too hard) to work so hard that you become extremely tired. 7. (the act of killing) the act of ending a life, or the animal that has been killed.

kill — meaning, definition & examples

Word

01to end a life

A2 · Elementary

v. to cause the death of a person, animal, or plant.

v. to cause the death of a living organism; to extinguish life. Transitive — requires a direct object.

“The cold winter weather might kill the delicate flowers in the garden.”

“The predator waited patiently in the tall grass for the perfect moment to strike and kill its prey.”

Synonyms

slay murder slaughter

Antonyms

save revive

02to cause pain

B1 · Intermediate Informal

v. to cause someone a lot of physical pain or discomfort.

v. to cause intense physical pain or distress to a person or a specific part of the body.

“My feet are killing me after walking around the city all day.”

“The athlete admitted that his lower back was killing him, yet he refused to withdraw from the final race of the season.”

Synonyms

hurt ache torture

Antonyms

soothe comfort

03to stop or cancel

B2 · Upper Intermediate Computing Technical

v. to stop a process, turn off an engine, or cancel a plan.

v. to terminate a process, render a system inoperative, or cancel a project or proposal.

“You need to kill the engine before you get out of the car.”

“The lead developer had to kill the background process because it was consuming too much of the server's memory.”

Synonyms

terminate abort cancel

Antonyms

start activate

04to waste time

B1 · Intermediate

v. to spend time doing something unimportant while waiting for something else.

v. to consume or pass time, typically while waiting for a scheduled event.

“We had an hour to kill before our flight, so we went to the bookshop.”

“They decided to kill time by browsing the local galleries until the restaurant opened for the evening service.”

Synonyms

pass wastewhile away

Antonyms

save

05to do something very well

C1 · Advanced Slang

v. to perform exceptionally well or be very successful at something.

v. to perform a task with great skill or success; often used in the context of public performance or competitive tasks.

“You totally killed that presentation; everyone was really impressed.”

“The comedian was worried about the new material, but he absolutely killed it and had the entire audience laughing for an hour.”

Synonyms

excel triumph

Antonyms

fail bomb

06to work too hard

B2 · Upper Intermediate Informal

v. to work so hard that you become extremely tired.

v. to exert oneself to an excessive or exhausting degree; reflexive use with 'myself', 'yourself', etc.

“Don't kill yourself trying to finish the whole project in one night.”

“She was killing herself with sixty-hour work weeks until her doctor insisted she take a proper holiday.”

Synonyms

overexertexhaust

Antonyms

relax

07the act of killing

B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun

n. the act of ending a life, or the animal that has been killed.

n. the act of causing death, or the resulting carcass of a hunted animal.

“The lion dragged its kill back to the shade of the trees.”

“The hunters were proud of their kill, though the local community had mixed feelings about the impact on the ecosystem.”

Synonyms

slaughter prey catch

“Last year, bears attacked more than 230 people in the country, with 13 people killed, making it the deadliest year on record.”

The Guardian 27 Aug 2026

“WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. military killed 11 people on Tuesday in a strike on a vessel from Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal narcotics, President Donald Trump said, in the first known operation since his administration's recent deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean.”

Reuters 3 Sept 2025

“PITTSBURGH (AP) — The man who killed 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue was formally sentenced to death Thursday, one day after a jury determined that capital punishment was appropriate for the perpetrator of the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.”

Associated Press 3 Aug 2023

“EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A white gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack on Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in a Texas border city was sentenced Friday to 90 consecutive life sentences but could still face more punishment, including the death penalty.”

Associated Press 6 Jul 2023

From Middle English killen, kyllen, cüllen (“to strike, beat, cut”), of obscure origin. Cognate with Scots kele, keil (“to kill”). Perhaps from unattested Old English cyllan, from Proto-West Germanic kwulljan, from Proto-Germanic kwuljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- (“to throw, hit, hurt by throwing”). * Or, possibly a variant of Old English cwellan (“to kill, murder, execute”) (see quell). * Or, from Old Norse kolla (“to hit on the head, harm”), related to Norwegian kylla (“to poll”), Middle Dutch kollen (“to knock down”), Icelandic kollur (“top, head”); see also coll, cole). Compare also Saterland Frisian källe (“to hurt”), Middle Dutch kellen (“to kill, hurt”), Middle Low German kellen, killen (“to ache strongly, cause one great pain”) (whence German Low German kellen, killen (“to hurt, injure, torment, vex”)), Middle High German kellen (“to torment; torture”).