murder has a very specific legal definition- that is what murder IS- it is the unlawful killing of a human being.
In Jorj's senario it would be murder because Jorj said "If the religious right were to have a fetus legally defined as a full fledged human being, now that it would be considered "murder" by the full legal definition".
I just looked up the definition of murder. As a verb it includes the definition you were talking about "1 : to kill (a human being) unlawfully and with premeditated malice" but also "2 : to slaughter wantonly : SLAY". Slay is defined as "1 : to kill violently, wantonly, or in great numbers; broadly : to strike down : KILL" All from m-w.com
dictionary.com includes "2. To kill brutally or inhumanly."
yourdictionary.com also includes "2 : to slaughter wantonly : SLAY".
notredame.ac.jp includes "1. murder, slay, hit, dispatch, bump off, polish off, remove -- (kill intentionally and with premeditation"
and on wordsmyth.net you can find
1. to kill (someone) intentionally or brutally.
Synonyms butcher (2) , slay (1)
Crossref. Syn. do away with , remove
So you definition did apply in Jorj's senario, and even without that senario the term may not be improperly used. Interestingly the slightly wider use of the word murder seems limited to the verb form. So it may be that it is inapproriate to refer to abortion as murder, but that it is correct to say that someone who perfomed an abortion, murdered someone.
Tim |
