Standard Lemma guide

populicide

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈpɒpjʊlɪsaɪd/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈpɑpjələˌsaɪd/

1

noun

Meaning 1

The deliberate slaughter of a people or a nation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Probably an unadapted borrowing from French populicide (“(noun) slaughter of a people; (adjective) harmful to the people”) (obsolete, rare), from Latin populus (“community; people; nation”) + French -cide (suffix meaning ‘killing’). The French word populicides was coined by the French journalist and revolutionary François-Noël Babeuf (1760–1797) in 1795 to describe the massacre of 117,000 farmers in the Vendée region during the French Revolution. Equivalent to populace + -icide.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: volksmoord — deliberate slaughter of a people or a nation
  • Finnish: kansanmurha — deliberate slaughter of a people or a nation
  • French: populicide — deliberate slaughter of a people or a nation
  • German: Völkermord — deliberate slaughter of a people or a nation
  • Portuguese: populicídio — deliberate slaughter of a people or a nation
  • Spanish: populicidio — deliberate slaughter of a people or a nation