amputation
Americannoun
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the act or instance of surgically removing a limb or part of a limb.
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the act of removing something by cutting, as if by surgery.
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a disability caused by the loss of a limb or part of a limb.
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Medicine/Medical. any absence or loss of a limb or part of a limb, whether congenitally or due to surgery or disease.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Example Sentences
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If an amputation occurs in traditional Medicare, the full cost is borne by taxpayers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Doctors discovered he had sepsis, and a month later he needed a double amputation.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
All we’re doing is increasing the likelihood of an above-the-knee amputation.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
Although the regenerated tissues were not exact matches to the original anatomy, the researchers successfully restored all of the major structures that had been removed during amputation, including bone, tendon, ligament, and joint tissue.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 17, 2026
Somehow, they saved it from amputation, but it was a hollow victory.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
In Medicare Advantage, the number of amputations is a tiny fraction of that.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
And diabetic-related amputations — which are painful and life-altering procedure that were the hospital’s most common surgery for years — have plummeted to zero for program patients.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2026
The charity Diabetes UK says it leads to more than 180 amputations a week.
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
Around the world, more than 1 million amputations occur every year due to diabetes-related vascular disease, traumatic injuries, infections, and cancer, according to Global Burden of Disease statistics.
From Science Daily ● May 9, 2026
Union general Carl Schurz witnessed amputations being performed at a field hospital during the Battle of Gettysburg.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
