# What is the difference between being assassinated and murdered? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2022, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168 "2022-02-09T19:19:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/1 "2022-02-09T19:19:43Z")
Is it based on the importance of the dead person? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/2 "2022-02-09T19:21:32Z")
I think it’s more based on the motive of the murderer. Political or to gain fame, etc. Assassinated is a sub-set of Murder. You’ll hear “JFK was murdered,” for example. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/3 "2022-02-09T19:22:34Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > You’ll hear “JFK was murdered,” for example. I dunno. I often hear to the event referred to as “the Kennedy assassination”, too. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/4 "2022-02-09T19:23:44Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > I often hear to the event referred to as “the Kennedy assassination”, too. Absolutely. I’m saying there is a lot of overlap. All assassinations are murder, but not all murders are assassinations. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/5 "2022-02-09T19:32:41Z")
I thought it had to with the motive; to remove a government figure, for example, like a President or Congressperson. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/6 "2022-02-09T19:38:44Z")
I think the grammar mavens would say that murderers kill for selfish reasons; assassins kill to achieve a social or political goal. In common usage, ordinary people are murdered; celebrities are assassinated. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/7 "2022-02-09T19:39:58Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I think the grammar mavens would say Huh? What does it have to do with grammar? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/8 "2022-02-09T19:41:15Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Assassinated is a sub-set of Murder. Yes. Assassination is the targeted murder of a prominent figure, for ideological or political reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/9 "2022-02-09T19:47:50Z")
Assassination is when everybody knows the killer’s middle name. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/10 "2022-02-09T19:53:01Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Assassination is the targeted murder of a prominent figure, for ideological or political reasons. Or just craziness. See John Hinckley ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/11 "2022-02-09T19:53:50Z")
One situation where it gets tricky is when the victim is famous but not a politician, and the reason for their being killed isn’t clearly ideological or political. Gianni Versace and Maurizio Gucci come to mind. Were they assassinated or murdered? Another area of consideration is the hired killer. If the killer is a hit man, does that automatically make it an assassination? What if it’s a situation like an estranged husband hiring a hit man to kill his wife because of “if I can’t have her nobody can” type thinking? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/12 "2022-02-09T19:55:14Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Or just craziness. See John Hinckley I guess “a desire to impress Jodie Foster” would be stretching the definition of a political motive. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/13 "2022-02-09T19:57:46Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Another area of consideration is the hired killer. If the killer is a hit man, does that automatically make it an assassination? For no good reason, I think in common usage the word “assassin” tends to be employed more loosely than the word “assassination”. I think I would more readily label a generic hit-man an assassin than I would call the contract killing of someone’s ex-spouse an assassination. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/14 "2022-02-09T20:08:59Z")
AIUI, assassination denotes killing someone with _ **political** _ influence or significance. Doesn’t necessarily have to be a governmental official - people like MLK, Malcolm X, Kashoggi, etc. were assassinated too. But mere fame doesn’t count. If someone bumped off a famous Hollywood actor, it wouldn’t really be an assassination. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/15 "2022-02-09T20:11:11Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > If someone bumped off a famous Hollywood actor, it wouldn’t really be an assassination. “John Lennon Assassination” seems a pretty common usage. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/16 "2022-02-09T20:14:47Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > “John Lennon Assassination” seems a pretty common usage. He’s the celebrity/non-politician example I was thinking of. Mark David Chapman was, as I understand it, motivated to kill Lennon for ideological reasons – he did not like Lennon’s “more popular than Jesus” comment, nor his comments and lyrics about not believing in God. Chapman also felt that Lennon’s “lavish lifestyle” was hypocritical, given lyrics like “imagine no possessions,” and he modeled himself after Holden Caulfield from _The Catcher in the Rye_, particularly in Caulfield’s hatred of hypocrisy. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/17 "2022-02-09T20:18:46Z")
Assassinations also seem to almost always be strangers to their victims, the big exception being Julius Caesar. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/18 "2022-02-09T20:22:43Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Assassination is when everybody knows the killer’s middle name. By Jove, I think you’ve got it! Mr. Webster says: 1. To murder by sudden or secret attack, usually for impersonal reasons\<~Senator\> 2. To injure or destroy unexpectedly and treacherously syn see kill. While you’re hear, what is with the \<~\> ? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/19 "2022-02-09T20:30:20Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > He’s the celebrity/non-politician example I was thinking of. Mark David Chapman was, as I understand it, motivated to kill Lennon for ideological reasons – he did not like Lennon’s “more popular than Jesus” comment, nor his comments and lyrics about not believing in God. > > Chapman also felt that Lennon’s “lavish lifestyle” was hypocritical, given lyrics like “imagine no possessions,” and he modeled himself after Holden Caulfield from _The Catcher in the Rye_ , particularly in Caulfield’s hatred of hypocrisy. Whereas if Chapman’s justification had been “Yoko Ono”, it would have been labeled a mercy killing. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168/20 "2022-02-09T20:43:23Z")
gET KILLED IN THE GUTTER–IT’S A MURDER. gET KILLED IN THE pRESIDENTIAL pALACE–IT’S ASSASSINATION. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-being-assassinated-and-murdered/959168.md?page=2)