Holocaust > define

noun

• An act of mass destruction and loss of life (especially in war or by fire. )
  • usage: "a nuclear holocaust"
• The mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime from 1941 until 1945.
  • synonyms: final solution

• (n.) A burnt sacrifice; an offering, the whole of which was consumed by fire, among the Jews and some pagan nations.
• (n.) Sacrifice or loss of many lives, as by the burning of a theater or a ship. [An extended use not authorized by careful writers.].