cosmetic surgery

American

noun

plastic surgery for improving a person's appearance by restoration of damaged areas of skin, removal of wrinkles or blemishes, etc.

cosmetic surgery British

noun

surgery performed to improve the appearance, rather than for medical reasons

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of cosmetic surgery

First recorded in 1925–30

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.

These platforms don’t need beauty filters that show 12-year-olds what they’d look like after cosmetic surgery.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

When confronted with internal email exchanges, Mosseri defended Zuckerberg's 2020 decision to allow cosmetic surgery filters on Instagram, despite strong objections from other executives who warned of their harmful effects on young girls.

From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026

"I'm off to bed. Had another cosmetic surgery, trying to look differently, and I am dead tired and my head hurts," he wrote to one of the Bulgarians, Roussev, on Telegram in February 2022.

From BBC • Jan. 21, 2026

Would I be financially reckless to spend $20K on cosmetic surgery?

From MarketWatch • Oct. 10, 2025

What was a beauty parlour, a cosmetic surgery, for, if it could not be used to save them?

From The Ear in the Wall by Reeve, Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023