English Explanatory Dictionary

terminate with extreme prejudice

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To murder; to assassinate.

Word forms

terminate with extreme prejudice terminates with extreme prejudice terminating with extreme prejudice terminated with extreme prejudice

Etymology

First appears c. 1969. Derives from US military intelligence and CIA documents, in news coverage of the Green Beret Case, and further popularized in the movie Apocalypse Now (1979). A play on the term terminate with prejudice when an employee’s employment is terminated, meaning will not rehire employee to same position in future (i.e., prejudiced against rehiring), hence terminate definitively, i.e., kill.

Related words

with prejudice without prejudice wet work assassination

Derived words

tweep extreme prejudice
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