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Antonyms for slay

Grammar : Verb
Spell : sley
Phonetic Transcription : sleɪ


Definition of slay

Origin :
  • Old English slean "to smite, strike, beat," also "to kill with a weapon, slaughter" (class VI strong verb; past tense sloh, slog, past participle slagen), from Proto-Germanic *slahan, from root *slog- "to hit" (cf. Old Norse and Old Frisian sla, Danish slaa, Middle Dutch slaen, Dutch slaan, Old High German slahan, German schlagen, Gothic slahan "to strike"). The Germanic words are from PIE root *slak- "to strike" (cf. Middle Irish past participle slactha "struck," slacc "sword").
  • Modern German cognate schlagen maintains the original sense of "to strike." Meaning "overwhelm with delight" (mid-14c.) preserves one of the wide range of meanings the word once had, including, in Old English, "stamp (coins); forge (weapons); throw, cast; pitch (a tent), to sting (of a snake); to dash, rush, come quickly; play (the harp); gain by conquest."
  • verb kill
Example sentences :
  • The sphinx did not slay herself until her riddle had been guessed.
  • Extract from : « The Hall of Fantasy (From "Mosses From An Old Manse") » by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • When Cain wished to slay his brother, he was at no loss for a weapon.
  • Extract from : « Earth's Holocaust (From "Mosses From An Old Manse") » by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • I will mend the sword and Siegfried shall use it to slay the dragon.
  • Extract from : « Opera Stories from Wagner » by Florence Akin
  • Sometimes they slay their own wives, and invite their neighbours to the repast.
  • Extract from : « Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. II » by Francis Augustus Cox
  • He will slay more men in a day than a troop of horse in a ten-mile chase.
  • Extract from : « Micah Clarke » by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • It was their custom to slay the unjust, and to come to the aid of the oppressed.
  • Extract from : « The Chinese Fairy Book » by Various
  • You cannot slay them all—and if you did, there would be more.
  • Extract from : « Priestess of the Flame » by Sewell Peaslee Wright
  • The one will kill the other; the iron will slay the stone, and the time is not very far off.
  • Extract from : « The Fat and the Thin » by Emile Zola
  • He was her betrayer, her assassin, for he tried to slay her soul.
  • Extract from : « The Eternal City » by Hall Caine
  • My son will be here presently,” said she, “and he will slay thee.
  • Extract from : « Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales » by Anonymous

Synonyms for slay

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019