If someone is killed, how is it decided if it is an assassination? Do only people in power get assassinated?

Question

Any average man would be considered murdered.

Answer 1

By definition assassinate means to murder a prominent person by surprise attack, as for political reasons. Doesn't have to be a prominent person, but usually it's done for political reasons, treachery.

Answer 2

They only call it assassination when a person is killed for political reasons. For example when the blacks were murdered in the South for trying to get the vote that was

considered assassination.

Answer 3

Assassination is the targeted killing of a high-profile person. An added distinction between assassination and other forms of killing is that the assassin (one who performs an assassination) usually has an ideological or political motivation, though many assassins (especially those not part of an organization) also demonstrate insanity. Other motivations may be money (contract killing), revenge, or a military operation.

The assassination euphemism targeted killing (or extrajudicial punishment / execution) is also used for the government-sanctioned killing of opponents. 'Assassination' itself, along with terms such as 'terrorist' and 'freedom fighter', may in this context be considered a loaded term, as it implies an act in which the proponents of such killings may consider them justified or even necessary.

Assassination may also be used as a form of hyperbole, as in the phrase character assassination, meaning an attempt to impugn another's character, and thus kill, or "assassinate" his reputation and credibility.