terminate with extreme prejudice love

terminate with extreme prejudice

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb euphemistic, US To murder; to assassinate.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1960s, US military intelligence and CIA, used publicly in 1969, in news coverage of Green Beret Case, further popularized in 1979 movie Apocalypse Now. 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”.

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  • The extraction "extreme prejudice" is popularly thought to have originated in military circles and to mean a "take no prisoners" or "show no mercy" attitude by military forces.

    June 11, 2008