holocaust
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
holocaust /ˈhɒləkɔːst/
▶noun
- 1 destruction or slaughter on a mass scale.
■ (the Holocaust) the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime in World War II.
- 2 historical a Jewish sacrificial offering burnt on an altar.
– origin ME: from OFr. holocauste, via late L. from Gk holokauston, from holos ‘whole’ + kaustos ‘burnt’.
'holocaust' also found in these Oxford entries:
