cauterize
verb (used with object)
to burn with a hot iron, electric current, fire, or a caustic, especially for curative purposes; treat with a cautery.
cauterizes
-
present tense formof cauterize (3rd person singular).present tense
Used to describe things happening now or regularly.
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
One brands with a hot iron, but cauterizes with some corrosive substance, as silver nitrate.
From English Synonyms and Antonyms With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions by James Champlin Fernald
