assassinate

/əˈsæsɪneɪt/ (bre, ipa) · /əˈsæsɪneɪt/ (ame, ipa) · /ə-ˈsa-sə-ˌnāt/ (ame, mw)

assassinate — verb

  • assassinatepresent simple I / you / we / they
  • assassinateshe / she / it
  • assassinatedpast simple
  • assassinating-ing form

1. to deliberately kill a well-known leader or public figure, usually for a politic

1.動詞及物B2
釋義

to deliberately kill a well-known leader or public figure, usually for a political reason and often as a planned, sudden attack.

例句

President Lincoln was assassinated at a theatre in Washington in 1865.

passive: be assassinated at [location]

Two soldiers tried to assassinate the prime minister during the military parade.

active: subject + try to assassinate + [public figure]

同義詞
  • murder

    general term for unlawful killing; no political or fame requirement

  • execute

    kill as a planned operation, often by an organisation or state; can imply official authority

  • slay

    literary or journalistic word for kill; often headlines about famous victims

文法句型

assassinate + [person noun]

用法筆記

Subject is usually a person or group acting for political motives; object is almost always a named public figure (president, leader, official, activist). Frequently passive.

常見錯誤

❌A burglar assassinated the old farmer in his kitchen.
✅A burglar murdered the old farmer in his kitchen.
💡'assassinate' is reserved for famous or politically important targets, not ordinary victims.
❌The hunter assassinated three deer.
✅The hunter killed three deer.
💡only people, not animals, can be assassinated.

2. to badly damage someone's reputation or good name by making cruel or untrue publ

2.動詞及物C1
釋義

to badly damage someone's reputation or good name by making cruel or untrue public statements about them.

例句

The tabloid columnist set out to assassinate the actress's character before her trial began.

collocation: assassinate someone's character

Devika felt that one rushed blog post had assassinated her professional reputation overnight.

collocation: assassinate someone's reputation

同義詞
  • smear

    spread harmful claims to damage someone's image; less severe and more informal

  • defame

    legal-leaning term for publishing false statements that hurt someone's reputation

  • slander

    spoken false statements that damage someone; specifically oral, not written

反義詞
  • defend

    speak up to protect someone's reputation rather than attack it

文法句型

assassinate + [character / reputation / name]

用法筆記

Almost always followed by 'character', 'reputation', or 'good name' — a fixed metaphorical pattern. Distinguish from sense 1 by the object: a person → sense 1; an abstract noun like 'character' → sense 2.

常見錯誤

❌The article assassinated him in public.
✅The article assassinated his character in public.
💡this sense needs an abstract object such as 'character' or 'reputation', not a person.