Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden or secret attack, of a person—especially a prominent or important one—typically for political or ideological reasons. [1][2][3] Assassinations may be ordered by both individuals and organizations and carried out by their accomplices. Acts of assassination have been performed since ancient times. A person who carries out an assassination is ...
1. a murderer, esp. one who kills a politically prominent person for fanatical or monetary reasons. 2. (cap.) one of an order of Muslim fanatics, active in Persia and Syria c1090–1272, whose chief object was to assassinate Crusaders.
An assassin is a person who commits assassination. The origin of the term is the medieval Order of Assassins, a secretive Nizari Ismaili religious order that existed from around 1090–1275 CE and carried out high-profile assassinations during the crusader states period.