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.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Releford later moved to Los Angeles, where, as a podiatric surgeon specializing in amputation prevention and limb preservation in high-risk populations, he saw firsthand how diet shapes long-term outcomes.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026
In a video shared on Monday, she explained her numerous injuries and the surgery that allowed her to avoid an amputation.
From Salon • Feb. 23, 2026
With the man on death’s door, Woodhall was loath to operate; after all, amputation was dangerous business.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026
Doctors presented her mother with a difficult choice: radiation, which could have left her dependent on a wheelchair, or amputation.
From BBC • Jan. 27, 2026
Her finger had found little hard lumps there, and Tariq had told her they were spurs of bone that sometimes grew after an amputation.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
