murderous intent
1
8.2
- noun
- /ˈmɜrdərəs ɪnˈtɛnt/
- NSFW
:
intención homicida
- They went to the house with murderous intent, tortured and terrorized an innocent woman, executed her in a humiliating way, then dumped her dead body on the back lawn like rubbish.
He saw King Sauban leaning from his saddle, his face Ruddy with murderous intent more than son, glinted in the man's blue eyes.
- He saw King Sauban leaning from his saddle, his face Ruddy with murderous intent more than son, glinted in the man's blue eyes.
Examples
-
The detective gathered evidence to prove the suspect's murderous intent in the recent crime.
-
Lina's suspicion of Johnnie's murderous intent is precipitated by the death of her father.
Academic text (1999) -
You know, it has always been a dream of mine... to see my face reflected in your helmet... as you charge at me with murderous intent.
-
And while this was a part of her job as well, she was more used to gauging murderous intent in outsiders than in fellow officers.
Fiction book (1991) -
Just because they are stupid and incompetent doesn't mean they lack murderous intent, moron.
Blog text (19) -
If murderous intent exists, the ideological and religious justification for that intent is most plain with Islam.
Blog text (6) -
He made up false accusations to excuse the same murderous intent as happened in Mississippi (the four trying to register black voters), probably because he agrees with it.
Blog text (27) -
You bigots attack an entire religion for the murderous intent of radicals, yet your own radicals don't hesitate to attack our President with words and threats of murderous deeds.
Blog text (9) -
The judge considered the defendant's murderous intent when determining the severity of the sentence.
-
Witnesses testified about the accused's murderous intent during the trial.
Synonyms
54
6.3
A wish to hurt someone or make them suffer
2
9.9
The intention to kill or seriously hurt someone before you act
1
9.3
An intention to harm someone or act for bad reasons
How Intentional
- NSFW
1
8.2
- Formal
21
7.9
417
3.4
18
5.2
- Specialized
80
6.5
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'murderous' (extremely violent, likely to kill) with 'intent' (aim or purpose), so a learner who knows both words can infer 'an intention to kill or cause serious harm'. This is a regular adjective + noun composition found cross-linguistically, making the phrase immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Murderous intent comes from two plain words: murderous, meaning 'wanting to kill', and intent, meaning 'a plan or purpose'. Picture someone with cold eyes and a hand on a knife, clearly planning to hurt another person, and you have the image that explains why murderous intent means 'the intention to kill or cause serious harm'.