why is the word assassination used instead of murder when someone of "importance" is killed?

Question

isnt murder the same thing?

Answer 1

look it up in an online dictionary.....that's a really good question, good luck dude!!!!!!!!!!!!! XX

Answer 2

Murder is the term used for an attack where there is no clear political gain from the death. It could be a murder if, for instance, some poor bugger wanders into the wrong store at the wrong time and is blasted apart by a shotgun wielded by a punk robbing that store. The robber can be charged with felony murder, in addition to attempted robbery.

Assassination, on the other hand, is a hit clearly performed upon the victim in order that somebody else can gain from the victim's death. This could be, for instance, in order that a wife can gain from a life insurance policy on her husband (or vice versa), or so that an ambitious son can inherit early from his father.

The word "assassin" derives from the infamous Hashishim, a fanatical sect of historical terrorists trained by a man called Hasan i Sabah, formed around the time of the Crusades. Brainwashing his followers to become fanatics, Hasan found hashish to be a very efective conditioning tool - hence their name.

Assassination is often done for money, but it is primarily a political tool. Witness the fates of Julius Caesar, Abraham Lincoln, Anwar Saddat of Egypt, Yitzhak Rabin of Israel, and (if the Daily Express is to be believed) even, allegedly, Diana, Princess of Wales. In all cases, someone clearly benefits from the death of the inconvenient person.

Assassination is always a matter of expediency overwhelming conscience, patience and intelligence.

Answer 3

Keefer is basically right. The original "assassins", who were based in the Elburz mountains in what is now north-western Iran - their chief castle was Alamut - were known to perform murders of prominent people. They didn't always do it for money (I think), but the fact that they were effectively undertaking murders of polical or other important people, often for ideological reasons, means that "assassination" has passed into modern use specifically for the same types of murder.

Answer 4

An assassination is a murder committed with political gain as the motive.

Answer 5

Assassination is to murder by surprise or secret assault. An assassin originally was a member of a military and religious order in Persia notorious for secret murders.

Answer 6

An assassination usually has some political motive or is undertaken by someone paid to do it. The name itself goes back to the time of the Crusades when there was a group of fighters called Assassins, a "fanatical sect of Shia Muslims who pursued their objectives by the covert killing of their enemies. their name comes from the word hashish, the narcotic, which according to the Crusaders, induced a trance which made the killers oblivious to danger."
They hired themselves out to both sides during the Crusades at various times, before they themselves were hunted down.

Answer 7

That's a good question. Assassination is usually a term linked with a political killing.

>>Assassination defined:
To murder (a usually prominent person) by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons.

Answer 8

Not 100% sure, but isn't an assassination a premeditated murder where a professional killer (assassin) is hired? Yes, murder is the same thing, but a murder can be an act of self-defense or a crime of passion...

P.S.: This is interesting -- my dictionary lists one definition of "assassin" as a member of a secret order of Moslem fanatics who terrorized and killed Christian Crusaders.

Answer 9

Derived from Italian assassinare, from assassino meaning "assassin", from Arabic hashshashin meaning "one who eats hashish", specificially Ismailis who ate hashish when preparing for assassinations.
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Verb

assassinate

1. To murder someone, especially an important person, by a sudden or obscure attack, especially for ideological or political reasons.
2. Figurative. To harm, ruin, or defame severely or destroy by treachery, slander, libel, or obscure attack.

Answer 10

to murder someone you have to have mean oppotrunity and a motive. to assasinate someone you need to have the mean and opportunity but not a motive. it is not only people of imortance that get assassinated and it is not always political

Answer 11

assassination is murder for a political purpose. it is a crime of power rather than a crime of passion.