eviscerate

[ verb ih-vis-uh-reyt; adjective ih-vis-er-it, -uh-reyt ]

/ verb ɪˈvɪs əˌreɪt; adjective ɪˈvɪs ər ɪt, -əˌreɪt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR eviscerate ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), e·vis·cer·at·ed, e·vis·cer·at·ing.

to remove the entrails from; disembowel: to eviscerate a chicken.

to deprive of vital or essential parts: The censors eviscerated the book to make it inoffensive to the leaders of the party.

Surgery. to remove the contents of (a body organ).

RELATED WORDS

gut, weaken, devitalize

Nearby words

Origin of eviscerate

1600–10; < Latin ēviscerātus, past participle of ēviscerāre to deprive of entrails, tear to pieces, equivalent to ē- e-¹ + viscer(a) viscera + -ātus -ate¹

Related formse·vis·cer·a·tion, noune·vis·cer·a·tor, nounun·e·vis·cer·at·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for eviscerated

This theme was touched upon in “Paradise Now” and is eviscerated in “Omar.”
'Omar' and the Oscars|Maysoon Zayid|December 16, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Bob Schieffer eviscerated Cain on Face the Nation over the use a cigarette in his campaign ad gone viral.
7 Best Moments From Sunday Talk|The Daily Beast Video|October 30, 2011|DAILY BEAST
That day she, very authentically, eviscerated Jay Leno over the Tonight Show debacle at NBC in front of a roomful of press.
Rosie Bares All|Nicole LaPorte|January 25, 2010|DAILY BEAST
People are afraid to try things because they get eviscerated, like Jeff Zucker did at NBC.
NPR Chief Says Leave Zucker Alone|Lynn Sherr|January 21, 2010|DAILY BEAST

Everything had been eviscerated, torn to atoms, reduced to powder.
The Day of Wrath|Maurus Jkai
Then with the eviscerated people he has invented he begins to make up stories.
Boon, The Mind of the Race, The Wild Asses of the Devil, and The Last Trump;|Herbert George Wells
All the males, to the number of twenty, have disappeared, eviscerated and completely emptied.
Social Life in the Insect World|J. H. Fabre
The whole of the surrounding country is, as it were, eviscerated.
A Tramp's Notebook|Morley Roberts
The caterpillars are eviscerated; each by a single beetle, or by several simultaneously.
Social Life in the Insect World|J. H. Fabre

British Dictionary definitions for eviscerated

eviscerate

/ (ɪˈvɪsəˌreɪt) /

verb

(tr) to remove the internal organs of; disembowel

(tr) to deprive of meaning or significance

(tr) surgery to remove the contents of (the eyeball or other organ)

(intr) surgery (of the viscera) to protrude through a weakened abdominal incision after an operation

adjective

having been disembowelled

Derived Formsevisceration, nouneviscerator, noun

Word Origin for eviscerate

C17: from Latin ēviscerāre to disembowel, from viscera entrails

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

Word Origin and History for eviscerated

eviscerate

c.1600 (figurative); 1620s (literal), from Latin evisceratus, past participle of eviscerare "to disembowel," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + viscera "internal organs." Sometimes used 17c. in figurative sense of "to bring out the deepest secrets of." Related: Eviscerated; eviscerating.