The Holocaust - The Way It Was What does Webster's dictionary defines the Holocaust as? ho·lo·caust 'hO-l&-"kost, 'hä- also -"kästor'ho-l&-kost\ noun 1 : a sacrifice consumed by fire, 2 : a thorough destruction especially by fire. (i.e. a nuclear holocaust) 3 a often cap. : the mass slaughter of European civilians and especially Jews by the Nazis during World War II -- usually used with the b : a mass slaughter of people; especially genocide. Beyond the Definition The Holocaust is generally regarded as the systematic slaughter of not only 6 million Jews, (two-thirds of the total