regicide
Killing the sovereign
Regicide is the killing of a king or queen, or more broadly, any monarch.
The word also applies to the person who commits such an act: The regicides who signed Charles I's death warrant were later hunted down.
The term carries historical weight, appearing in discussions of the English Civil War, the French Revolution, and similar upheavals where monarchs met violent ends.
Murder of a prominent figure
- murderDeliberate unlawful killing
- slayingAct of killing
- executionCompleting a planned task
- killingCausing death deliberately
coup · overthrow · usurpation · plot · conspiracy · poisoning · stabbing · beheading
Male crowned ruler
- queenMost powerful chess piece
- crownSovereign's ornamental headpiece
- throneCeremonial chair for sovereigns
- sovereignSupreme in power
dynasty · royalty · succession · heir · coronation · abdication · realm · kingdom
Breaking of trust
- seditionInciting revolt against government
- conspiracyClandestine coordinated scheming
- treacheryDeliberate violation of trust
- disloyaltyBreach of allegiance
lèse-majesté · insurrection · subversion · coup · plotting · defection · perfidy · oathbreaking
Organized resistance to power
- revoltOrganized resistance to power
- revolutionViolent governmental overthrow
- mutinyRevolt against authority
- insurrectionViolent uprising against authority
overthrow · resistance · dissent · defiance · anarchy · sedition · unrest · coup
Release from constraint
- despotRuler with absolute power
- tyrantCruel, absolute ruler
- dictatorRuler with total control
- oppressionUnjust exercise of power
despotism · autocracy · justification · resistance · Brutus · Caesar · liberty · republicanism
Roman imperial title
- BrutusRoman who killed Caesar
- CromwellEnglish republican military leader
- RobespierreRevolutionary who devoured himself
- guillotineVertical beheading apparatus
execution · trial · scaffold · Bolshevik · restoration · interregnum · Romanov · Bourbon
Slaying one's own parent
- sororicideMurdering one's own sister
- filicideMurdering one's own child
- familicideSlaying one's family members
- genocideSystematic annihilation of a people
assassination
Murder of a prominent figure
killing · coup · overthrow · usurpation · plot · conspiracy · poisoning · stabbing · beheading · guillotine
king
Male crowned ruler
- queenMost powerful chess piece
- crownSovereign's ornamental headpiece
- throneCeremonial chair for sovereigns
sovereign · dynasty · royalty · succession · heir · coronation · abdication · realm · kingdom · scepter
betrayal
Breaking of trust
- seditionInciting revolt against government
- conspiracyClandestine coordinated scheming
- treacheryDeliberate violation of trust
disloyalty · lèse-majesté · insurrection · subversion · coup · plotting · defection · perfidy · oathbreaking · subterfuge
uprising
Organized resistance to power
- revoltOrganized resistance to power
- revolutionViolent governmental overthrow
- mutinyRevolt against authority
insurrection · overthrow · resistance · dissent · defiance · anarchy · sedition · unrest · coup · usurpation
liberation
Release from constraint
oppression · despotism · autocracy · justification · resistance · Brutus · Caesar · liberty · republicanism · usurper
Caesar
Roman imperial title
- BrutusRoman who killed Caesar
- CromwellEnglish republican military leader
- RobespierreRevolutionary who devoured himself
guillotine · execution · trial · scaffold · Bolshevik · restoration · interregnum · Romanov · Bourbon · Stuart
parricide
Slaying one's own parent
- sororicideMurdering one's own sister
- filicideMurdering one's own child
- familicideSlaying one's family members
- crimesarson, burglary, robbery, kidnapping, vandalism
- Revolutionrevolt, uprising, insurrection, overthrow, revolutionaries
- French RevolutionBastille, guillotine, Robespierre, French Revolution, Marie Antoinette
- -cide wordsgenocide, fungicide, herbicide, insecticide, pesticide
- Assassinationsassassination, assassin, Kennedy assassination, Lincoln assassination, MLK assassination
- Early RomeRomulus, Remus, founding of Rome, founding myth, she-wolf
regicidecoronation
Ceremony installing a sovereign
enthronement · crowning · fealty · allegiance · investiture
regiciderestoration
Returning something to condition
enthronement · royal succession · accession · Restoration · legitimation