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Definition of "butchery" []

  • Wanton or cruel killing; carnage. (noun)
  • Something botched; a bungle. (noun)
  • The trade of a butcher. (noun)
  • Chiefly British A slaughterhouse. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "butchery" in a sentence
  • "Having already established that our Spartan heroes kill pretty much anything that comes within screaming distance, the industrial music cranks up while we watch as Greek butchery is taken to a visual level hitherto unseen: Asian and Middle Eastern baddies carved up like Easter hams."
  • "Second, the butchery is by no means confined to Chihuahua, but occurs nationwide."
  • "And on a broader front, as reported in The New Yorker and The New Republic, Al Qaeda's wanton butchery is facing an intellectual challenge from within its own ranks."