Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of murdering one's father.
  • noun One who murders one's father.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A murderer of his father.
  • noun The murde of a father.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The murderer of his father.
  • noun The crime of one who murders his father. Same as Parricide.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Murder of one's father.
  • noun A murderer of one's father.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person who murders their father
  • noun the murder of your father

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin patricīdium and patricīda : Latin patri-, patri- + Latin -cīdium and -cīda, -cide.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin patricida.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word patricide.

Examples

  • Here in Confucian Korea, where in a classroom gasps of horror are heard when I lead university students to figure out what the word "patricide" means, the idea that adult children have an "obligation to care for elderly parents" is simply a given, although it is sometimes transgressed.

    O tempora, o mores! 2006

  • SIR, -- The word "patricide" in your issue of this morning (telegrams) was an error.

    Mark Twain, a Biography. Complete Albert Bigelow Paine 1899

  • SIR, -- The word "patricide" in your issue of this morning (telegrams) was an error.

    Mark Twain, a Biography — Volume II, Part 2: 1886-1900 Albert Bigelow Paine 1899

  • The book portrays a patricide in which each of the murdered man's sons share a varying degree of complicity.

    Capsule Summaries of the Great Books of the Western World Jonathan Aquino 2009

  • From matricide to patricide, as boring turncoat alien Ryan sneaks back on the ship to fetch his rapidly maturing hybrid daughter Amy, but is instead killed presumably when Amy wraps her own tail around dad's neck, revealing her allegiance to surrogate mommy Anna.

    Matt's TV Week in Review 2011

  • Thus, whilst it seems that Anthony Hamilton has been the primary mover in orchestrating Dennis's withdrawal, there remains a sense in which Lewis seems to have committed an act of professional patricide.

    Archive 2009-04-01 Gordon McCabe 2009

  • NATALIE: Rivals Alex and Jaden will be forced to work together on a mission to assassinate the privileged son of a foreign leader who's planning a patricide.

    Mega Buzz: A B&S Bombshell and Baby Blues on Private Practice and Bones 2011

  • As open-minded as Clay seemed, I doubted that patricide was a basis for the two of them to be BFFs.

    The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf Molly Harper 2011

  • The book portrays a patricide in which each of the murdered man's sons share a varying degree of complicity.

    Archive 2009-03-01 Jonathan Aquino 2009

  • The condition that Lyle had produced is called patricide.

    March 11th, 2009 m_francis 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.