maim
[ meym ]
verb (used with object)
nounObsolete.
a physical injury, especially a loss of a limb.
an injury or defect; blemish; lack.
Origin of maim
1synonym study For maim
1. Maim, lacerate, mangle, mutilate indicate the infliction of painful and severe injuries on the body. To maim is to injure by giving a disabling wound, or by depriving a person of one or more members or their use: maimed in an accident. To lacerate is to inflict severe cuts and tears on the flesh or skin: to lacerate an arm. To mangle is to chop undiscriminatingly or to crush or rend by blows or pressure, as if by machinery: bodies mangled in a train wreck. To mutilate is to injure the completeness or beauty of a body, especially by cutting off an important member: to mutilate a statue, a tree, a person.
Other words for maim
Other words from maim
- maim·er, noun
- re·maim, verb (used with object)
Words that may be confused with maim
- maim , mayhem (see synonym study at the current entry)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for maim
maim
/ (meɪm) /
verb(tr)
to mutilate, cripple, or disable a part of the body of (a person or animal)
to make defective
noun
obsolete an injury or defect
Origin of maim
1C14: from Old French mahaignier to wound, probably of Germanic origin
Derived forms of maim
- maimedness (ˈmeɪmɪdnɪs), noun
- maimer, 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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