KILLING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does killing mean? 

• KILLING (noun)
  The noun KILLING has 3 senses:

1. an event that causes someone to die

2. the act of terminating a life

3. a very large profit

  Familiarity information: KILLING used as a noun is uncommon.

• KILLING (adjective)
  The adjective KILLING has 1 sense:

1. very funny

  Familiarity information: KILLING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• KILLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An event that causes someone to die

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

killing; violent death

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

fatality; human death (a death resulting from an accident or a disaster)

Derivation:

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

kill (cause the death of, without intention)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of terminating a life

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

kill; killing; putting to death

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

conclusion; ending; termination (the act of ending something)

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

coup de grace; deathblow (the blow that kills (usually mercifully))

death (the act of killing)

euthanasia; mercy killing (the act of killing someone painlessly (especially someone suffering from an incurable illness))

homicide (the killing of a human being by another human being)

despatch; dispatch (killing a person or animal)

fell (the act of felling something (as a tree))

self-annihilation; self-destruction; suicide (the act of killing yourself)

slaughter (the killing of animals (as for food))

poisoning (the act of giving poison to a person or animal with the intent to kill)

asphyxiation; suffocation (killing by depriving of oxygen)

ritual killing; sacrifice (the act of killing (an animal or person) in order to propitiate a deity)

electrocution (killing by electric shock)

beheading; decapitation (killing by cutting off the head)

genocide; race murder; racial extermination (systematic killing of a racial or cultural group)

Derivation:

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A very large profit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

cleanup; killing

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

earnings; lucre; net; net income; net profit; profit; profits (the excess of revenues over outlays in a given period of time (including depreciation and other non-cash expenses))

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

• KILLING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Very funny

Synonyms:

killing; sidesplitting

Context example:

sidesplitting antics

Similar:

humorous; humourous (full of or characterized by humor)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

 Context examples 

It might aid the activity of your body's pain-killing chemicals.

(Acupuncture, NIH: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine)

However, the killing exhibited by the cell is nonspecific and the cell does not require antigen/MHC recognition on the target cell.

(Activated Natural Killer Cell, NCI Thesaurus)

Many drugs are aimed at stopping cancer growth and killing cancer cells.

(Scientists develop potential new approach to stop cancer metastasis, National Institutes of Health)

Typically, when the body senses bacteria or an injury, neutrophils rush to the invasion site and release germ killing chemicals from the granules.

(Immune cells may heal bleeding brain after strokes, National Institutes of Health)

In addition, this agent may induce antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) or complement-mediated killing (CMK).

(Anti-IL-1 alpha Monoclonal Antibody MABp1, NCI Thesaurus)

The target killing of a cell depending on antibody recognition.

(Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, NCI Thesaurus)

Upon reintroduction into the patient, autologous anti-PSMA gene-modified T-cells bind to PSMA-expressing prostate cancer cells, which may result in specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) tumor cell killing.

(Autologous Anti-PSMA Gene-Modified T-Lymphocytes, NCI Thesaurus)

Aurimmune is made in the laboratory by binding a cancer-killing protein called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) to the surface of very tiny particles of gold.

(Aurimmune, NCI Dictionary)

The killing of a target cell by a killer cell by means of an antibody directed to the target by the antigen-binding arms and anchored to the killer cell via an Fc receptor.

(Antibody-Mediated Lympholysis, NCI Thesaurus)

He mentioned a compound called PDO that targets the gene, killing the mosquitoes.

(Malaria-carrying Mosquitoes Becoming Resistant to Bed Nets in Southern Africa, VOA)