Holocaust

/ˈhɑləkɑst/

/ˈhɒləkɔst/

Other forms: Holocausts

The Holocaust was the genocide by Nazi Germany of European Jews during World War II. About six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.

The word holocaust originally meant "burnt offering," from the Greek root holokauston, "thing wholly burnt." In the 17th century, it came to be used figuratively for the destruction of a large number of people. When it's capitalized, Holocaust refers specifically to the deliberate, systemic murder of Jews by the Nazis, although Hebrew-speakers prefer the word Shoʾah, or "catastrophe." The Nazi-controlled German state also killed Roma people, gay men, and those who were mentally or physically disabled during the Holocaust.

Definitions of Holocaust

1. noun

   the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime from 1941 until 1945
   synonyms: final solution

   example of:

   genocide, race murder, racial extermination

   systematic killing of a racial or cultural group