assassinate
verb [often passive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they assassinate | |
| he / she / it assassinates | |
| past simple assassinated | |
| past participle assassinated | |
| -ing form assassinating |
- assassinate somebody
to murder an important or famous person, especially for political reasons （尤为政治目的）暗杀，行刺 a plot to assassinate the president 刺杀总统的阴谋 The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + assassinate- attempt to
- try to
- plan to
- …
- an attempt to assassinate somebody
- a plot to assassinate somebody
Word Originearly 17th cent.: from medieval Latin assassinat- ‘killed’, from the verb assassinare, from assassinus, from Arabic ḥašīšī ‘hashish-eater’.