circumcise
Americanverb (used with object)
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to remove the prepuce of (a male), especially as a religious rite.
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to remove the clitoris, prepuce, or labia of (a female).
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to purify spiritually.
verb
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to remove the foreskin of (a male)
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to incise surgically the skin over the clitoris of (a female)
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to remove the clitoris of (a female)
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to perform the religious rite of circumcision on (someone)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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circumcisesimple
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circumcisessimple
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have circumcisedperfect
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has circumcisedperfect
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am circumcisingprogressive
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are circumcisingprogressive
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is circumcisingprogressive
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have been circumcisingperfect progressive
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has been circumcisingperfect progressive
Past
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circumcisedsimple
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had circumcisedperfect
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was circumcisingprogressive
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were circumcisingprogressive
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had been circumcisingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of circumcise
1200–50; Middle English circumcisen < Latin circumcīsus (past participle of circumcīdere to cut around), equivalent to circum- circum- + -cīsus ( -cīd- cut + -tus past participle suffix; see -cide)
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.
See Examples For:
Those choices can be as substantial as whether to circumcise a baby or as minor as giving in and deciding that yes, fine, a 3-year-old can wear a ballerina costume to school.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 13, 2022
We can all see the circumcision data, but some of us will circumcise our kids and some of us won't, because there are small pluses and small minuses and preferences are important.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2021
Her lyrics are often clever throughout: “Don’t circumcise my circumstance,” she sings in one song.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 30, 2020
For some families, the decision about whether to circumcise a boy is a cultural or religious decision, while others may consider hygiene or social reasons.
From Fox News ● Jan. 7, 2020
Honoring Abraham, the Muslims and Jews circumcise their boys.
From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat
Because of the lack of information, the U.S. is the only country that circumcises most of its male infants for nonreligious reasons.
From Time Magazine Archive
So Noureddin gave him leave, whereupon another rose and said, 'O my lord, I wish to go to my brother, for he circumcises his son to-day.'
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume I by Payne, John
He circumcises the semi-Jew, Timothy; and he performs his vows in the temple.
From The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg
Cir′cumciser, one who circumcises; Circumci′sion, the act of circumcising.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
As he stands on a rise of ground, Maunakalika, with his robe Hakaula, and his mat Ikuwa, she circumcises Palila and returns with him to Alanapo.
From The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai by Beckwith, Martha Warren
“There’s two studies that show children who were circumcised early have double the rate of autism,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2025
Specifically, he said, the study relied on a tiny sample of Muslim boys circumcised in hospitals rather than at home -- the dominant cultural practice.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2025
"My husband was thinking that if he caught a shark then we could pay to have the baby circumcised," she tells the BBC, clearly still distressed about his death.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2024
He appears at ceremonies where circumcised boys are taught cultural practices, including discipline and respect.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 26, 2021
Ngoliong and Lmatarion, who are 5 and 8 years older than I am, were circumcised at the same time.
From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola
By not circumcising my son, have I made a horrible mistake?
From Slate ● Dec. 12, 2019
Even for some progressive Jews, circumcising a son and holding a bris remains a quintessential part of being a Jewish parent.
From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2017
They go to that area to escape the law and after circumcising their children, they bring them back.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 1, 2015
Advocates say that in recent years doctors have begun making clandestine visits to villages, arriving at night and often under the guise of circumcising boys.
From Newsweek ● Mar. 17, 2015
This mention of the objectionable nature of the reed as a circumcising medium is attributed to the danger that may arise from splinters.
From History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the Present Moral and Physical Reasons for its Performance by Remondino, Peter Charles
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.
