manslaughter
/ˈmænˌslɔtɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.38 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
3
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The unlawful killing of a human, either in negligence or incidentally to the commission of some unlawful act, but without specific malice, or upon a sudden excitement of anger; considered less culpable than murder, but more culpable than justifiable homicide.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind."
- "In 2003, Christopher Below was in an interrogation room at the Evansville Police Department when he admitted to Detective Scott Thomas of the Evansville Police Department that he had shot Kathern Fetzer in his apartment and disposed of the body in a commercial trash bin. Her remains were never recovered, and Below pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter."
Etymology
From Middle English manslaȝter, manslauter, equivalent to man + slaughter, or taken as an adaptation of Old English mansliht (“murder; killing of a person”), from mann (“person”) + sliht (“killing”), see manslaught. Cognate with Scots manslauchter (“homicide”). Compare also Old Frisian monslaga (“murder”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: manslaȝter, mansliht
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmænˌslɔtɚ/
- British English: /ˈmænˌslɔːtə/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
constructive manslaughter
corporate manslaughter
criminally negligent manslaughter
first-degree manslaughter
involuntary manslaughter
second-degree manslaughter
voluntary manslaughter
self-slaughter