# kill

/ˈkɪɫ/ (US) · /kˈɪl/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/kill
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. to end a life

verb · CEFR A2

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

For teachers: 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.

### 2. to cause pain

verb · CEFR B1 · Informal

to cause someone a lot of physical pain or discomfort.

For teachers: 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.

### 3. to stop or cancel

verb · CEFR B2 · Technical

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

For teachers: 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.

### 4. to waste time

verb · CEFR B1

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

For teachers: 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.

### 5. to do something very well

verb · CEFR C1 · Slang

to perform exceptionally well or be very successful at something.

For teachers: 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.

### 6. to work too hard

verb · CEFR B2 · Informal

to work so hard that you become extremely tired.

For teachers: 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.

### 7. the act of killing

noun · CEFR B2

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

For teachers: 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.

## Examples

- The cold weather might kill the flowers in the garden.
- The commander ordered the soldiers to kill the engine so they could approach the camp silently.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.