kill off
UK /kɪl ɒf/ · US /kɪl ɔf/ verb
Forms kills off killing off killed off
- verb (transitive) To eliminate, to make extinct. “We killed off the Dodo by over-hunting.”
- verb (film, television, literature) Of writers or producers, to permanently take a character out of a television series or other work by purposefully and deliberately having them killed within the plot. “The writers are killing off lots of people in the soap opera.”
- verb (figurative, transitive) To put an end to.
Synonyms
Etymology
From kill + off.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “kill off”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details