When does murder become assassination

Question

Why are people of high society standard said to be assassinated while ordinary people are said to be murdered?

Answer 1

Yes tonalc2 is right, but whatever you want to call it, it's still a crime

Answer 2

When the victim is well-known

Answer 3

Assassination is actually the murder of a public figure by surprise attack. Strictly speaking the person killed does not need to be a part of High society, just a public figure and because surprise is a part of the definition, it would need to be totally unexpected by most.



If Robert Mugabe was murdered by someone in a situation that no one would expect likely or possible (a public meeting with the Queen or the Pope or someone like that for example), it would still be called an assassination. If Grace ever smartens up and sticks a shiv between his ribs - that's murder (or maybe justifiable homicide lol)

I don't know anyone who would seriously consider Mr.Mugabe to be 'High Society."  Seems to me there is a certain amount of class and charisma assumed with the description of someone being from High Society. Class and Charisma are not two words that any sane person would apply to Mr.Mugabe!

To apply this to a real assassination,  when Lincoln was killed by an actor on the stage that was an assassination. If Lincoln's wife had killed him because of some domestic argument that got out of hand, that would have been murder.

Political persons are the most likely to be assassinated. While motive is not part of the dictionary definition, it seems that political reasons are high on the list of motives. Religious leaders have been also been targeted in the past and religious differences seem to have been the motive.

Wikipedia has a more thorough definition than my home dictionary and some interesting items about various assassinations of the past and assassination attempts.  

Answer 4

An added distinction between assassination and other forms of killing is that the assassin 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.