hit man

noun

1
: a professional assassin who works for a crime syndicate
2

Examples of hit man in a Sentence

She hired a hit man to kill her ex-husband.
Recent Examples on the Web The movie stars Michael Fassbender as a nameless hit man who, after a job goes wrong, sets about visiting with routinely lethal consequences a succession of folks — including two fellow assassins, one played by Tilda Swinton — who might pose a threat to his future. Clark Collis Published, EW.com, 11 Nov. 2023 Saddam himself was a hit man in his 20s and a prolific novelist in his 60s. Gideon Rose, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024 Detectives learned the intimate details of the hit from Jorge Ayala, the charismatic hit man who later testified against Blanco. Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 29 Jan. 2024 Keaton plays John Knox, a hit man whose health is declining even as he is offered a chance to achieve redemption by saving his estranged son’s life. Brent Lang, Variety, 29 Nov. 2023 Fassbender plays the hit man like a runway model — photogenic but blank, an automaton’s version of Kevin Spacey’s hammy villain in Se7en. Armond White, National Review, 17 Nov. 2023 The director will go into detailed explanations about why the unnamed antihero, played by Michael Fassbender, is not just a hit man but a very, very unreliable narrator. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 8 Nov. 2023 Two years later, a hit man nearly assassinated him in his kitchen. Dan Kaufman, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2023 Keaton plays an underworld hit man who is diagnosed with dementia. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 11 Sep. 2023

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

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of hit man was in 1963

Dictionary Entries Near hit man

Cite this Entry

“Hit man.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hit%20man. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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