carnage

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the savage and excessive killing of many people

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French carnage, from a Norman or Picard variant Old Northern French) of Old French charnage, from char (“flesh”), or from Vulgar Latin *carnaticum (“slaughter of animals”), itself from Latin carnem, accusative of caro (“flesh”). By surface analysis, Latin carn- + -age.

In classic literature

Synonyms

slaughter, massacre, mass murder, butchery

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