holocaust

Meaning

Noun

1. An offering or sacrifice to a deity that is completely burned to ashes.
2. (also, broadly, figuratively) A complete or large offering or sacrifice.
3. (broadly) Complete destruction by fire; also, the thing so destroyed.
4. (broadly, figuratively) Extensive destruction of a group of animals or (especially) people; a large-scale massacre or slaughter.
5. (alt-of, broadly, figuratively) Alternative letter-case form of Holocaust (“the systematic mass murder (democide or genocide) of Jews (and, more broadly, of disabled people, homosexuals, Romanis, Slavs, and others) perpetrated by Nazi Germany shortly before and during World War II”); hence, the state-sponsored mass murder of a particular group of people in society.

Verb

1. (also, figuratively, transitive) To sacrifice (chiefly an animal) to be completely burned.
2. (transitive) To destroy (something) completely, especially by fire.
3. (transitive) To subject (a group of people) to a holocaust (mass annihilation); to destroy en masse.

Synonyms

genocide

conflagration

burnt offering

massacre

sacrifice

extermination

fire

🔥

gangrene

combustion

Holocaust

Shoah

mass murder

oblation

offer

race murder

racial extermination

slaughter

big fire

fever

🤒

decimation

destruction

Translations

holocauste

holocausto

Holocaust

holocausto

olocausto

ολοκαύτωμα

holocaust

Massenvernichtung

Holokaustum

Brandopfer

holocaustum

Inferno

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈhɒl.ə(ʊ)ˌkɔːst/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: holocaust

Cognate with French: holocaust

In summary

The noun is derived from Middle English holocaust (“burnt offering”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman holocauste, Old French holocauste, olocauste (modern French holocaust), from Late Latin holocaustum, from Ancient Greek ὁλόκαυστον (holókauston), the neuter form of ὁλόκαυστος (holókaustos, “wholly burnt”), from ὅλος (hólos, “entire, whole”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole”)) + καυστός (kaustós, “burnt”) (from καίω (kaíō, “to burn, burn up”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂w-).
The verb is derived from the noun. As regards verb sense 3 (“to subject (a group of people) to a holocaust”), compare the use of genocide as a verb.