hecatomb
Meanings
Plural: hecatombs
Noun
- a great sacrifice; an ancient Greek or Roman sacrifice of 100 oxen
- A great public sacrifice to the gods, originally of a hundred oxen; also, a great number of animals reserved for such a sacrifice.
- A great public sacrifice in other religions; also, a great number of animals or people reserved for such a sacrifice.
- A great number of animals, people, or things that are sacrificed or destroyed; any great sacrifice; also (generally), a large amount.
Verb
- To provide (someone or something) with a hecatomb.
Origin / Etymology
The noun is a learned borrowing from Latin hecatombē (“great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb”), from Ancient Greek ἑκατόμβη (hekatómbē, “great sacrifice of a hundred oxen, hecatomb; any animal sacrifice or large sacrifice”, from ἑκᾰτόν (hekătón, “hundred”) + βοῦς (boûs, “cattle, cow, ox”)).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Synonyms
abundance, arseload, assload, bellyload, boatload, brimful, bucketful, bucketload, bumload, busload, butt-ton, buttload, cartload, crapload, deal, fuckload, fuckton, fuckwad, great deal, hantle, heap, hecatomb, helluvalot, horseload, lashings, load, lot, mampus, many, mass, metric fuckton, metric shitload, mickle, mountain, muckle, multiplicity, multitude, pile, ream, shedload, shitful, shitload, shitton, slew, sum, superflux, ton, trainload, truckload, tun, vaultful, wagonload
Scrabble Score: 17
hecatomb is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordhecatomb is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
hecatomb is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary