1. holocaust -- (an act of mass destruction and loss of life (especially in war or by fire); "a nuclear holocaust")
2. Holocaust, final solution -- (the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime from 1941 until 1945)
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With all the heart, and with that tongue which speaks The same in all, an holocaust I made To God, befitting the new grace vouchsaf'd. - from The Divine Comedy, Complete by Dante Alighieri