Kill Killed Killing People I Make Kɪl Time

• cancer kills thousands of people every year.
• three people were killed in the crash.
• he tried to kill himself with sleeping pills.
• i bought a spray to kill the weeds.

kill

1. to make somebody/something die
• Cancer kills thousands of people every year.
• Three people were killed in the crash.
• He tried to kill himself with sleeping pills.
• I bought a spray to kill the weeds.
• My mother will kill me (= be very angry with me) when she finds out.
• Don't kill yourself trying to get the work done by tomorrow. It can wait.
• I nearly killed myself carrying that suitcase all the way here.
• Tiredness while driving can kill.
2. to destroy or spoil something or make it stop
• to kill a rumour
• Do you agree that television kills conversation?
• The defeat last night killed the team's chances of qualifying.
3. to cause somebody pain or suffering
• My feet are killing me.
4. to make somebody laugh a lot
• Stop it! You're killing me!
5. used to tell somebody not to ask questions or try to find out about things that do not concern them
6. wearing the kind of clothes that will make people notice and admire you
7. to have nothing to do or not be busy
8. used to describe the very angry or unpleasant way somebody is/was looking at you
• If looks could kill, she thought, seeing the expression that came over his face when he saw her, she’d be dead on the pavement.
• I don’t know what I’ve done to upset him, but if looks could kill…
9. to destroy something that would make you rich, successful, etc.
10. used to say that what you are going to do will either be very successful or fail completely
11. to spend time doing something that is not important while you are waiting for something else to happen
• We killed time playing cards.
12. to achieve two things at the same time with one action
13. to be so kind to somebody/something that you in fact harm them
14. to laugh a lot
• He was killing himself laughing.

Extra Examples

• Dad’s going to kill me when he finds out.
• He admitted killing her but said it was unintentional.
• He has fought more than fifty bulls, killing three outright.
• He knew they meant to kill him.
• I don’t believe that he intentionally killed her.
• It must have been really awful to make her kill herself.
• The animals are killed quickly and humanely.
• The inquest concluded that he was unlawfully killed.
• The militias are systematically killing and raping civilians.
• The poison was slowly killing her.
• The terrorists had shown their willingness to kill indiscriminately.
• Their daughter was tragically killed in a road accident.
• There were reports of people brutally killed.
• They are quite prepared to kill to achieve their ends.
• They plotted to kill the dictator.
• What if they really do plan to kill us?
• his trial for allegedly killing his wife
• soldiers killed in battle
• the camp guards who tortured and eventually killed her
• the number of people needlessly killed by hospital infections
• Excessive tiredness while driving can kill.

Verb Forms

• present simple I / you / we / they kill
• he / she / it kills
• past simple killed
• past participle killed
• -ing form killing

Word Origin

• Middle English (in the sense ‘strike, beat’, also ‘put to death’): probably of Germanic origin and related to quell. The noun originally denoted a stroke or blow.