Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One who executes a condemned person.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who executes or carries into effect; especially, one who carries into effect a death sentence of a court or tribunal; a functionary who inflicts capital punishment in pursuance of a legal warrant; a headsman or hangman.
- noun That by means of which anything is performed; an instrument or implement used in producing a desired effect.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One who executes; an executer.
- noun One who puts to death in conformity to legal warrant, as a hangman.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
official person who carries out thecapital punishment of acriminal . - noun archaic
executor
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an official who inflicts capital punishment in pursuit of a warrant
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word executioner.
Examples
-
They'll get – whoever the executioner is – a soldier, a relative of someone who was killed in 9/11, and a frequent flyer.
Diary Hugh Muir 2010
-
The argument that it's unconstitutional for Congress to be judge, jury and executioner is a case of logical contortion to divert the subject over to that premise and away from the fact that Congress funds what it funds and doesn't fund what it doesn't fund.
-
Plus, too many black children see school as a place where they're supposed to get reprimanded and putting black educators as main executioner; we're essentially fortifying centuries-old traditions of promoting blacks as overseer in the proverbial plantation.
Jose Vilson: Why Black/Latino Male Teachers aren't as Effective in the Classroom... Yet Jose Vilson 2010
-
Beheading, if somewhat gruesome, can be one of the quickest and least painful ways to die - so long as the executioner is skilled, his blade sharp, and the condemned sits still.
Boing Boing 2007
-
However, appointing oneself judge and jury then acting as executioner is equally abhorrent.
-
Why anyone would think that giving the state the power to be torturer in addition to being executioner is beyond me.
-
[Page 205] not to go; adding, "The executioner is good enough for him."
The Ruin of a Princess Cl 1912
-
The 24-year-old, who has never disguised his disgust for Briatore - not since his sacking in early August when he described the former Renault team principal as his 'executioner' - again on Monday pulled no punches.
-
On the track the team have again failed to conjure notable results, were tainted by Piquet Jr's attack on Briatore when he was axed - describing him as his "executioner" - and then hit the headlines again in Hungary when Alonso's tyre fell off, resulting in a one-race ban that was overturned on appeal.
-
The U.S. military quickly announced that the executioner was al-Zarqawi himself, and although no one doubts that he planned the operation, questions soon arose: the figure seems taller than al-Zarqawi, and he uses his right hand to wield the knife.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.