EXECUTIONER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does executioner mean? 

• EXECUTIONER (noun)
  The noun EXECUTIONER has 1 sense:

1. an official who inflicts capital punishment in pursuit of a warrant

  Familiarity information: EXECUTIONER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EXECUTIONER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An official who inflicts capital punishment in pursuit of a warrant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

executioner; public executioner

Hypernyms ("executioner" is a kind of...):

killer; slayer (someone who causes the death of a person or animal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "executioner"):

electrocutioner (an executioner who uses electricity to kill the condemned person)

hangman (an executioner who hangs the condemned person)

headman; headsman (an executioner who beheads the condemned person)

Derivation:

execution (putting a condemned person to death)

 Context examples 

“He deserves to die,” I cried out; “and God forgive me, I am not man enough to be his executioner.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I told him that I had come both as judge and executioner.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the execution of this will Edith strove earnestly to observe the customary forms, but the group was so small that Hans and she had to serve as witnesses, as jury, and as judges—also as executioners.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)