amputee
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of amputee
1905–10; amputat(ed) ( def. ) + -ee, modeled on French amputé, past participle of amputer to amputate
Explanation
A person who's had an arm or a leg surgically removed is an amputee. Some amputees get artificial limbs that allow them to be nearly as mobile as before the loss of a limb. Some amputees lose a limb in an accident, while others have surgery to stop a disease, like gangrene, from spreading from an arm or leg to the rest of the body. The surgery to remove a limb is called an amputation, and it's also the word amputee comes from. An amputation was originally "a cutting off of tree branches," from the Latin amputare, "cut off, cut around, or prune."
Vocabulary lists containing amputee
A Thousand Splendid Suns
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Salt to the Sea
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The Running Dream
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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.
You also write about Terry Fox, the athlete and amputee who ran across most of Canada.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
For amputee Nigel Ward, the evidence is undeniable.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Despite repeated requests, Burgess, who was a single leg amputee, did not drop the dinner knife.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
In Massachusetts, Ford took on the case of Vincent Gunning, a Navy veteran and amputee who was being evicted from a home he inherited from his aunt when she died in 2008.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
James Letherer, a one-legged amputee from Saginaw, Michigan, would walk the entire distance with the aid of crutches and the helping hands of fellow marchers.
From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
