mutilate
to injure, disfigure, or make imperfect by removing or irreparably damaging parts: Vandals mutilated the painting.
to deprive (a person or animal) of a limb or other essential part.
Origin of mutilate
1synonym study For mutilate
Other words for mutilate
Other words from mutilate
- mu·ti·la·tion, noun
- mu·ti·la·tive, mu·ti·la·to·ry [myoot-l-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee], /ˈmyut l əˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjective
- mu·ti·la·tor, noun
- self-mu·ti·lat·ing, adjective
- self-mu·ti·la·tion, noun
- un·mu·ti·lat·ed, adjective
- un·mu·ti·la·tive, adjective
Words Nearby mutilate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use mutilate in a sentence
A military defector codenamed “Caesar,” and “Sami,” a relative who assisted him, smuggled thousands of photos out of Syria showing mutilated, tortured, and emaciated corpses strewn across the floors of Syrian government detention centers.
I Helped Bring a Syrian War Criminal to Justice. But the Work Is Just Beginning | Mazen Darwish | February 17, 2022 | TimeAfter the man’s body was recovered, his mutilated left leg probably detached and was placed on his chest when he was buried, the researchers say.
A partial skeleton reveals the world’s oldest known shark attack | Bruce Bower | July 23, 2021 | Science NewsThe thing with translators is that you have to cut off the oratory, mutilate the ideas to give them time to do their work.
Locked up in the Land of Liberty: Part III | Yariel Valdés González | July 21, 2021 | Washington BladeFalse rumors swirled that Hughes had mutilated Pearl Farlow’s throat and breasts, sending the mob into a murderous rage.
In Texas, a struggle to memorialize a brutal lynching as resistance grows to teaching historical racism | Sydney Trent | June 3, 2021 | Washington PostTheir world, like Paul’s, was full of monsters determined to abuse, kidnap and mutilate kids.
Rand Paul’s ignorant questioning of Rachel Levine showed why we need her in government | Monica Hesse | February 26, 2021 | Washington Post
Prisoners there became severely depressed: some began to compulsively mutilate themselves; others attempted suicide.
With cynical cruelty, he set himself to insult, to undermine, to mutilate it.
The Child of Pleasure | Gabriele D'AnnunzioIt would not mutilate and disfigure the body, for it is a sacred temple, to be made beautiful and attractive.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume VII | John LordYou mutilate my brain with your clumsy pincers—you put your claws into my thoughts and tear them to pieces!
Creditors; Pariah | August StrindbergNot only does the censorship mutilate literary works, but it often suffocates the inspiration of the author.
Contemporary Russian Novelists | Serge PerskyThis dispatch, too, the House of Commons took care to mutilate before sending it to the press.
The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth | Lewis H. Berens
British Dictionary definitions for mutilate
/ (ˈmjuːtɪˌleɪt) /
to deprive of a limb, essential part, etc; maim; dismember
to mar, expurgate, or damage (a text, book, etc)
Origin of mutilate
1Derived forms of mutilate
- mutilation, noun
- mutilative, adjective
- mutilator, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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