soft kill

English

Alternative forms

• softkill

Noun

soft kill (uncountable)

1. (military) The neutralization of an incoming munition by avoiding it rather than destroying it.

   Coordinate term: hard kill

2. (idiomatic) A murder that does not leave behind any physical evidence, because the perpetrator carried out the crime by using their bare hands, as opposed to a weapon.

   Police concluded that she had been the victim of a soft kill, since she had been strangled to death.