killing
part of speech
noun (a killing, killings); verb form of kill (kill, kills, killed, killing); adjective (killing)
meaning for a pupil
1) Killing is causing someone or something to die. tree →
2) A killing is a murder or a death caused on purpose, as reported in the news. tree →
3) (informal) To make a killing means to make a lot of money quickly. tree →
4) (slang) «You're killing me!» means «You're so funny» or «You're annoying me»; «My feet are killing me» means they hurt a lot. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons it is used for germs (soap is killing bacteria) and food chains; in news it is a serious crime word. In everyday slang it is about laughter, pain or money. Phrases: «make a killing», «killing time», «killing me».
examples
- The lion is killing a zebra for food. tree →
- Soap helps by killing germs. tree →
- The police are investigating a killing. tree →
- Killing animals for fun is cruel. tree →
- They made a killing selling ice creams on the hot day. tree →
- We were killing time before the film started. tree →
- (slang) Stop, you're killing me! That joke is so funny. tree →
- (informal) These new shoes are killing my feet. tree →
- When you have succeeded in killing one come and tell me." tree →
note
Kill is regular: killed, killing. «Killing time» means doing something just to fill time while waiting. Serious killing words are not for jokes about real people.
In the corpora
- Cork comes from the thick bark of the cork oak, peeled about every 9 years without killing the tree.
- There are no confirmed cases of wild orcas killing a person.
- People use soft words for things about animals they find unpleasant: toilets, killing and giving pets away.
- "Pest control" means killing unwanted animals such as rats or mice.
- War means killing and destruction, and the people who start or run wars often do not want to say that plainly.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «killing» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.