assassination

noun

as·sas·si·na·tion ə-ˌsa-sə-ˈnā-shən

plural assassinations

: murder by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons : the act or an instance of assassinating someone (such as a prominent political leader)

the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

an assassination attempt

In medieval days, assassination by poisoning was common enough to alarm many a king, and protection was sought in the form of prayers, food tasters and science.—

The New York Times

: treacherous destruction of a person's reputation

character assassination

Examples of assassination in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web By the time Ecuador’s current president, Daniel Noboa, was elected in a runoff, the country had suffered months of political turmoil, including the assassination of a presidential candidate in broad daylight on the streets of central Quito. —

Michael Snyder Ana Topoleanu, New York Times, 10 May 2024 Even the march that King would later become most associated with after his assassination–the March on Washington (MOW) on Aug. 28, 1963, of 250,000 people—was not supported by many politicians or most Americans at the time, according a Gallup poll done the week of the march. —

TIME, 9 May 2024 More:Canadian police make arrests in Sikh assassination linked to Indian government Modi's campaign began by showcasing his economic record, welfare measures, national pride and personal popularity. —

Sumit Khanna, Tora Agarwala, USA TODAY, 7 May 2024 Ukrainian authorities have arrested two colonels from the Ukrainian forces who had allegedly collaborated with Russians to plot the assassination of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. —

Peter Aitken, Fox News, 7 May 2024 The film is framed by the assassination and explores the musicians’ story as narrated to the investigating police by their associates. —

Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 3 May 2024 But after the assassination of Kennedy, his dreams of going to space were derailed. —

J.m. Banks, Kansas City Star, 26 Apr. 2024 There have been at least two recent uses of chemical weapons in assassination attempts, in 2020 and in 2018. —

Chris Eberhart, Fox News, 26 Apr. 2024 That included a piece about the father of Sen. Ted Cruz being involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. —

Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 24 Apr. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'assassination.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.