kneecap
Americanverb (used with object)
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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:
Savitt, an OpenAI lawyer, said the lawsuit was motivated by Musk seeking to kneecap a "competitor".
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
“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
Autumn’s sword clatters to the ground, now free from the troll’s kneecap.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Early last year, Leno crashed his motorcycle and wound up with a broken collarbone, two broken ribs and two cracked kneecaps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2024
But some runners showed symptoms of new, if slight, damage in the bones and cartilage right around their kneecaps, a part of the joint that absorbs much of the pounding from running.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 19, 2022
When the Lions hired Campbell nearly a year ago, he was perhaps as fired up as any coach could be at an introductory news conference as he talked about kicking teeth and biting kneecaps.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 10, 2022
I know, it really doesn’t, but there’s something so haphazard about how all of this is laid out that it really kneecaps the movie’s potential.
From Slate ● Mar. 25, 2021
He gets down on his kneecaps and lays his head down in her lap.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
Most notably, “Practical Magic 2” is kneecapped by a fatal flaw that plagues almost all of these legacy sequels, but this one especially: It’s positively unsightly to look at.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
Now, with their front office kneecapped for the foreseeable future, the Clippers will face a much harder challenge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 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
The systemic bias of the music industry may be a burden, but it hasn’t completely kneecapped Uchis on her road to fame.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2024
If large domestic companies are kneecapped, foreign companies will be quick to seize market share in strategically sensitive sectors such as AI and quantum computing, the chamber wrote.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2022
Boulder, kneecapping a statute that was pretty clear on its face.
From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2026
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
“We should not be kneecapping America’s largest source of renewable power,” he said, “especially when we need more cheap, homegrown electricity.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2025
These deals, a notable result of the pandemic kneecapping the movie theater business, haven’t changed much since they were first implemented at the top of the decade.
From Salon ● May 22, 2025
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
