contract killing
4
7.9
- noun
- /ˈkɒntrækt ˈkɪlɪŋ/
- Offensive
:
asesinato por encargo
- My father, on the other hand, had loathed him and made no secret of it, so the police convinced themselves that he'd ordered a contract killing, and they abandoned the search for anyone else.
- gangland-style contract killing
- contract killing by organized crime
- contract killing for years
And because I've been in prison for contract killing, I'm heavily scrutinised and it's difficult.
- And because I've been in prison for contract killing, I'm heavily scrutinised and it's difficult.
Examples
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After all, couldn't one raised in a long family tradition of contract killing find a uniquely meaningful life in choosing to become a competent, flourishing practitioner of this particular line of work?
Academic text (2005) -
These guys have taken contract killing - to a whole new level.
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Contract killings in a corrupt environment
Academic text (2010) -
It was a botched job for a contract killing.
Fiction book (1996) -
Multiple contract killings, a rape, murder he got acquitted for.
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And because I've been in prison for contract killing, I'm heavily scrutinised and it's difficult.
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Given the nature of the murder—she had been shot twice in the chest, once in the shoulder, and once in the head at point-blank range—it was described by investigators as a contract killing.
Blog text (1) -
Whoever was behind the contract killing apparently intended to send a powerful message to authorities, since the 47-year-old Politkovskaya was killed on October 7—Russian President Vladimir Putin's birthday.
Blog text (1) -
In a shocking investigation, law enforcement uncovered a network involved in contract killing for hire.
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The documentary detailed the chilling rise of contract killing in organized crime syndicates during the 1980s.
Synonyms
∞
1.6
An illegal killing of one person by another
914
6.1
The killing of one person by another
30
7.4
An illegal killing of a person planned in advance
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'contract' (an agreement) with 'killing' (the act of murdering): it denotes a killing carried out under an agreement (i.e. a hired murder). This noun–noun composition is compositionally transparent and paralleled in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Contract killing comes from the idea of a written deal: contract is a promise to pay, and killing means 'to kill'. The image of someone paying another under a 'contract' to 'kill' makes the phrase mean 'to hire someone to kill' today.