hecatomb

/'hekətoum/

Thân thiện

A priest prepares a hecatomb at the ancient altar.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A great or large-scale sacrifice: Specifically, a hecatomb refers to a public sacrifice of a large number of animals, originally and most famously 100 cattle, in ancient Greek and Roman religious ceremonies.
   • A massive slaughter or loss of life: By extension, "hecatomb" can be used metaphorically to describe any immense loss of life, such as in a war or disaster.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The king ordered a hecatomb to appease the gods before the battle.
  • The historian described the battle not as a victory but as a hecatomb, with tens of thousands fallen on both sides.

Advanced Usage

• Metaphorical Use: The term is often employed in literary or historical contexts to emphasize the scale of a tragedy.
  • The pandemic was a modern hecatomb, claiming lives on an unprecedented scale.

Variants and Related Words

• Sacrifice (n): A general term for an offering to a deity.
• Slaughter (n): The killing of animals for food or, more commonly, the killing of many people violently.
• Carnage (n): The killing of a large number of people.

Synonyms

• Massacre: An indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of many people.
• Holocaust: Destruction or slaughter on a mass scale (though this term is now overwhelmingly associated with a specific historical event).
• Butchery: The savage killing of large numbers of people.

Idioms and Phrases

(This word is typically not used in common idioms or phrasal verbs due to its specific and formal nature.)

Học thuật

Noun

1. a great sacrifice; an ancient Greek or Roman sacrifice of 100 oxen