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.

Following Dr. Graham on his medical rounds, they witness no heroic acts of surgery—he cauterizes a persistent sore on someone’s face; he presides at the death bed of a longtime patient and friend.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 23, 2025

Debate — philosophically and physiologically — makes us human, whereas dogma cauterizes our potential as a species.

From New York Times • Jun. 8, 2018

He cauterizes our indulgences in pity or piety: it is impossible, he reminds us, to feel pity for the self-pitying.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 11, 2017

The critic analyzes and cauterizes, coolly judging a film’s manipulation of its audience.

From Time • Jan. 12, 2012

A sneer is like a flame; it may occasionally be curative because it cauterizes, but it leaves a bitter scar.

From The Awakening of Helena Richie by Deland, Margaret Wade Campbell