as in matricide
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Recent Examples of filicide
Each year in the United States there are nearly 500 arrests for filicide – which is the legal term for when parents kill their children – according to an analysis of FBI data by Forensic Science International.
—
Chelsea Bailey, CNN Money, 22 Apr. 2026
Several generate physical action that, besides wickedness, is driven by rage — fights, accidents, assaults, pederasty, filicide, matricide.
—Stuart Dybek, New York Times, 10 Feb. 2025
One study of maternal filicide observed that, whereas psychotic mothers often acted suddenly, depressed mothers tended to contemplate killing their children for days or weeks before acting.
—Eren Orbey, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2024
Each was a tragedy, but maternal filicide falls low on the register of reasons for infant death.
—Maria Laurino, The New Republic, 29 June 2023
In Massachusetts, a horrific case of filicide has reawakened difficult talks about postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, which are known to be under-diagnosed and under-treated in women who recently gave birth.
—Andrea Marks, Rolling Stone, 22 Mar. 2023
Supplementary Homicide Reports in 2014 to determine that filicide – a parent’s act of killing his or her child or children – occurs on average 500 times per year in the United States.
—Fox News, 21 Oct. 2022
Chelsea Bailey, CNN Money, 22 Apr. 2026
Several generate physical action that, besides wickedness, is driven by rage — fights, accidents, assaults, pederasty, filicide, matricide.
—Stuart Dybek, New York Times, 10 Feb. 2025
One study of maternal filicide observed that, whereas psychotic mothers often acted suddenly, depressed mothers tended to contemplate killing their children for days or weeks before acting.
—Eren Orbey, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2024
Each was a tragedy, but maternal filicide falls low on the register of reasons for infant death.
—Maria Laurino, The New Republic, 29 June 2023
In Massachusetts, a horrific case of filicide has reawakened difficult talks about postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, which are known to be under-diagnosed and under-treated in women who recently gave birth.
—Andrea Marks, Rolling Stone, 22 Mar. 2023
Supplementary Homicide Reports in 2014 to determine that filicide – a parent’s act of killing his or her child or children – occurs on average 500 times per year in the United States.
—Fox News, 21 Oct. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for filicide
Noun
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In the illuminated texts of the medieval and early Renaissance periods, artists decided to rachet up the horrors of Agrippina’s matricide.—
Diana Arterian
June 16,
Literary Hub,
16 June 2025
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Several generate physical action that, besides wickedness, is driven by rage — fights, accidents, assaults, pederasty, filicide, matricide.—
Stuart Dybek,
New York Times,
10 Feb. 2025
Noun
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This is what's known as a parricide, where somebody kills their parents.—
Lori A Bashian , Larry Fink,
FOXNews.com,
5 Jan. 2026
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The double killing of one's parents, known as parricide, is a rare event, according to Dr. Kathleen Heide, Ph.D., professor of criminology at the University of South Florida and author of Why Kids Kill Parents: Child Abuse and Adolescent Homicide.—
Gillian Telling,
PEOPLE,
23 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Walt had long described himself as a benevolent father to his workers, and the strike seemed an act of personal betrayal and disloyalty verging on patricide.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Apr. 2026
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The second season’s focus on the Menendez brothers’ patricide is loud, confrontational, and approaches the case from multiple perspectives at once, which can either come across as daring or incoherent.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
24 May 2025
Noun
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But Iran did little to stop the fratricide.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
2 Sep. 2025
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But what is absolutely clear to me right now is that this Israeli government is committing suicide, homicide and fratricide.—
Thomas L. Friedman,
Mercury News,
28 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The radical shifts in France — regicide, the Committee of Public Safety’s terror, and expansionist campaigns — dissolved the moral and practical basis for the alliance.—
Daniel Ross Goodman,
The Washington Examiner,
9 Jan. 2026
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With examples drawn from Scripture and across the length of history, Paine commits rhetorical regicide.—
Matthew Redmond
August 13,
Literary Hub,
13 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Paul Casteleiro, John Kogut's former defense attorney, fears that Bilodeau's lawyers will put the blame on the three men who were cleared of the murder two decades ago.—
Mary Murphy,
CBS News,
26 Apr. 2026
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Four people were wounded early Sunday in a shooting at a troubled Queens nightclub with a history of violence and murder.—
John Annese,
New York Daily News,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Jackson's death was later declared a homicide at the hands of Murray, who administered the fatal dose of Propofol.—
Alex Gurley,
PEOPLE,
28 Apr. 2026
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More than two decades after a North Carolina teen died in what was considered a hit-and-run, investigators now say a police officer has been identified as a person of interest in the homicide case.—
Stepheny Price,
FOXNews.com,
28 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Filicide.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/filicide. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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