putting to death

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

putting to death - the act of terminating a life

kill, killing

ending, termination, conclusion - the act of ending something; "the termination of the agreement"

coup de grace, deathblow - the blow that kills (usually mercifully)

death - the act of killing; "he had two deaths on his conscience"

euthanasia, mercy killing - the act of killing someone painlessly (especially someone suffering from an incurable illness)

homicide - the killing of a human being by another human being

despatch, dispatch - killing a person or animal

fell - the act of felling something (as a tree)

self-annihilation, self-destruction - the act of killing yourself; "it is a crime to commit suicide"

slaughter - the killing of animals (as for food)

poisoning - the act of giving poison to a person or animal with the intent to kill

suffocation, asphyxiation - killing by depriving of oxygen

ritual killing, sacrifice - the act of killing (an animal or person) in order to propitiate a deity

electrocution - killing by electric shock

beheading, decapitation - killing by cutting off the head

genocide, race murder, racial extermination - systematic killing of a racial or cultural group

References in periodicals archive ?

Under international law, putting to death anyone who was under 18 at the time of the crime is strictly prohibited.

Saudi Arabia executes young men after sham trials

One such international agreement is the Convention on the Rights of the Child that the Kingdom voluntarily signed in 1996 that, among a list of other articles, prohibits putting to death criminals who committed their crimes when they were under the age of 18.

When international agreements conflict with Saudi court rulings

The argument--in truth, the sole argument involving political justice-against the death penalty can be formulated as follows: The putting to death of a human being is only justified in the case of legitimate defense.