hatchet man
- noun
- /ˈhæʧɪt mæn/
- NSFW
:
sicario
- The notorious hatchet man was responsible for several high-profile assassinations.
Examples
-
Shot by you, General, or by your hatchet man, Kraus?
-
The company hired a hatchet man to eliminate any threats to their operations.
-
In the underworld, a hatchet man is often feared for his lethal skills.
Synonyms
230
6.3
A person who secretly kills a leader for political or religious reasons
57
7.6
A person who criminals pay to kill someone
49
8.1
A person who is paid to kill someone, often with a gun
16
9.9
A man hired to kill someone
5
9.7
A person who uses a gun to kill people for money or on orders
5
9.5
A person who kills another by cutting their throat
4
8.9
A person paid to kill someone
2
9.1
A person who is paid to kill someone with a gun
1
8.3
A person who secretly kills an important person, often for money
1
9.8
A person who kills someone illegally
A woman who is paid to kill someone, often using a gun
A person who kills men, often many of them
Antonyms
How Deadly
- NSFW
- NSFW
∞
1.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
hatchet + man
The literal parts — 'hatchet' (a small axe) + 'man' (person) — suggest an agent associated with a weapon, so a B1 learner could infer a violent or weapon-wielding person. However, the conventionalized sense 'a person hired to kill or do dirty work' is a specific idiomatic extension (enforcer/hitman) that is not fully predictable from the constituents, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Hatchet man may come from the literal idea of a man with a hatchet, a small axe used to strike or kill. That's why it can mean 'a man hired to kill someone'.