HECATOMB Definition & Meaning

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hecatomb

[ hek-uh-tohm, -toom ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

(in ancient Greece and Rome) a public sacrifice of 100 oxen to the gods.
any great slaughter:
the hecatombs of modern wars.

hecatomb

/ ˈhɛkəˌtəʊm; -ˌtuːm /

noun

(in ancient Greece or Rome) any great public sacrifice and feast, originally one in which 100 oxen were sacrificed
a great sacrifice

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of hecatomb¹

1585–95; < Latin ��𳦲��ٴǳ��ŧ < Greek ��첹��ó��ŧ < *��첹�ٴǳ��, equivalent to ��é�첹�ٴǲ� one hundred + *-��, taken to be a derivative of ��û�� ox ( cow ¹ )

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of hecatomb¹

C16: from Latin ��𳦲��ٴǳ��ŧ, from Greek ��첹�ٴǳ��ŧ, from hekaton hundred + bous ox

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

If I may say so, the great hecatomb of pigs you describe on farm has not taken place.

From

This, in a nutshell, is the catastrophic and unprecedented hecatomb that Brazil found itself locked in by mid-April 2021.

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“They get caught and I think it’s very good there is a hecatomb right now. It shows that things are being done for a cleaner sport.”

From

But amid the ensuing hecatomb of the Tet Offensive four years later, LBJ announced he would not run for a second term.

From

Unbeknown to them, Mr. Renzi writes, the liberal leaders were sitting “in a hecatomb.”

From

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