holocaust
Pronunciation:
/ˈhoʊləkɑst//ˈhɒləkɔːst//ˈhoʊləkɔst/noun
Definitions
A sacrifice that is completely burned to ashes.
Extensive destruction of a group (usually of people or animals), whether by deliberate agency or by natural agency (especially fire).
Example: 1895 September 10, "ANOTHER ARMENIAN HOLOCAUST; Five Villages Burned, Five Thousand Persons Made Homeless, and Anti-Christians Organized.", in The New York Times
In particular, a state-sponsored mass murder of an ethnic group, especially the Holocaust (which see).
verb
Definitions
To sacrifice and burn (an animal) completely.
To destroy completely, especially by fire.
(possibly nonstandard) To subject to a holocaust (mass annihilation); to destroy en masse. (Compare genocide.)