holocaust
pronunciation
How to pronounce holocaust in British English:
UK [ˈhɒləkɔːst]
How to pronounce holocaust in American English:
US [ˈhoʊləkɔːst]
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- Noun:
- an act of great destruction and loss of life
Word Origin
- holocaust
- holocaust: [13] Etymologically, a holocaust is a ‘complete burning’, and the word was originally used in English for a ‘burnt offering’, a ‘sacrifice completely consumed by fire’ (Mark 12, 33, ‘more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices’ in the Authorized Version, was translated by William Tindale in 1526 as ‘a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices’).It comes via Old French and Latin from Greek holókauston, a compound formed from hólos ‘whole’ (as in English holograph [17] and holism [20], a coinage of the South African statesman Jan Smuts) and kaustós, a relative of Greek kaúein ‘burn’ (from which English gets caustic [14] and cauterize [14]). John Milton was the first English writer to use the word in the wider sense ‘complete destruction by fire’, in the late 17th century, and in the succeeding centuries several precedents were set for its modern application to ‘nuclear destruction’ and ‘mass murder’ – Bishop Ken, for instance, wrote in 1711 ‘Should general Flame this World consume … An Holocaust for Fontal Sin’, and Leitch Ritchie in Wanderings by the Loire 1833 refers to Louis VII making ‘a holocaust of thirteen hundred persons in a church’.=> caustic, cauterize, holism
- holocaust (n.)
- mid-13c., "sacrifice by fire, burnt offering," from Greek holokauston "a thing wholly burnt," neuter of holokaustos "burned whole," from holos "whole" (see holo-) + kaustos, verbal adjective of kaiein "to burn." Originally a Bible word for "burnt offerings," given wider sense of "massacre, destruction of a large number of persons" from 1833. The Holocaust "Nazi genocide of European Jews in World War II," first recorded 1957, earlier known in Hebrew as Shoah "catastrophe." The word itself was used in English in reference to Hitler's Jewish policies from 1942, but not as a proper name for them. Auschwitz makes all too clear the principle that the human psyche can create meaning out of anything. [Robert Jay Lifton, "The Nazi Doctors"]
Example
- 1. Holocaust denial is treated as a crime in germany .
- 2. Mr sova has made comments denying the holocaust .
- 3. Time there is an event to commemorate the holocaust .
- 4. A neo-nazi can easily identify a synagogue or the holocaust museum in washington .
- 5. Given the trade 's vast scale , some call it a holocaust .