kneecap
Americanverb (used with object)
-
kneecaps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
kneecapped,
past participle, past
-
kneecapping
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
kneecapsimple
-
kneecapssimple
-
have kneecappedperfect
-
has kneecappedperfect
-
am kneecappingprogressive
-
are kneecappingprogressive
-
is kneecappingprogressive
-
have been kneecappingperfect progressive
-
has been kneecappingperfect progressive
Past
-
kneecappedsimple
-
had kneecappedperfect
-
was kneecappingprogressive
-
were kneecappingprogressive
-
had been kneecappingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of kneecap
Explanation
Your kneecap is the bony plate that covers the joint in the middle of your leg, between your thigh and shin. Whales don't have kneecaps, but it might surprise you to know that mice and birds do. The kneecap is just what it sounds like, a protective cap for your vulnerable knee. While the official anatomical term is patella, it's far more common to call this body part a kneecap. When babies are small, their kneecaps are made of soft cartilage, but by the time they're about three they harden into strong bone. If you're a fan of Mafia movies, you might also recognize the verb kneecap, "to shoot someone in the knee."
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:
“It doesn’t make any sense to kneecap consumers in the face of the strait being closed and driving up oil prices.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
Few if any government spokespeople have done more to kneecap their own agency in court than McLaughlin.
From Slate ● Feb. 18, 2026
Hill suffered torn ligaments and a dislocated kneecap in a game against the New York Jets last year, ending his season.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
After three months at the Y, I was walking home from dinner one night when I tripped on a crack in a sidewalk and fractured my kneecap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2025
They were black leather, with steel toes and acid-green laces that ran from ankle to bony kneecap, where they ended in neon bunny ears.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
Mexican Americans have long risen up to defend ourselves and defy our haters, but there’s usually an underlying strain of bitterness and anger that kneecaps us at the worst possible moments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
It also kneecaps much of the NLRB’s work.
From Slate ● Jan. 29, 2025
Dorset Council leader Nick Ireland told the BBC at the time that it "kneecaps" the county’s efforts to achieve their "net zero" target - the goal of no longer adding to carbon emissions by 2050.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2024
The Fed is trying to pull of the difficult feat of slowing the economy enough through high interest rates to stifle high inflation but not so much that it kneecaps the job market.
From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2024
The pink skin was peeled back and looked like the petals of a flower, revealing kneecaps that were fire-engine red.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Thetford, England, population about 25,500, has been mostly quiet since King Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries kneecapped the local economy in 1540.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
In the decade and a half before the GCA kneecapped his war-surplus business, Cummings imported some 5 million firearms for distribution on the U.S. consumer market.
From Slate ● May 25, 2025
But her production lines were being constantly kneecapped by the start-stop of the grid.
From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2025
In other words, the Trojans were one of several elite teams in the Pac-12 era kneecapped by inane conference scheduling policies.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 2, 2023
The Delta wave kneecapped any sense that COVID-19 was behind us.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2021
Fable comes with broad restrictions Anthropic says are aimed at kneecapping its ability to assist users with potentially dangerous activities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
"We should not be kneecapping America's largest source of renewable power, especially when we need more cheap, homegrown electricity," the Environmental Defense Fund's lead counsel Ted Kelly said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Dec. 22, 2025
The most obvious proof of “Folie à Deux” misunderstanding the musical is the odd decision to cut the majority of these sequences short, kneecapping decades-old compositions before their emotional and musical resolutions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2024
Here we are, trying to figure a way out of a $1.7 trillion dollar mess that was already kneecapping the financial and professional ambitions, personal lives and mental health status of millions of former students.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2021
Asked on Friday whether the White House is still interested in kneecapping the FCPA, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow confirmed that the administration is “looking at it.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 20, 2020
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.
