kneecap

[nee-kap]

noun

1. the patella.

2. a protective covering, usually knitted, for the knee.

verb (used with object)

kneecapped, kneecapping 

1. to cripple (a person) by shooting in the knee.

   Terrorists were kneecapping prospective jurors.

kneecap

/ ˈniːˌkæp /

noun

1. anatomy a nontechnical name for patella

2. another word for poleyn

verb

1. (esp of certain terrorist groups) to shoot (a person) in the kneecap, esp as an act of retaliation

kneecap

1. See patella

Other Word Forms

• kneecapper noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of kneecap¹

First recorded in 1650–60; knee + cap ¹

Example Sentences

Autumn’s sword clatters to the ground, now free from the troll’s kneecap.

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For weeks, automakers and suppliers have publicly sounded an optimistic tone, pointing to the industry’s lessons from a semiconductor crisis a few years ago that kneecapped production around the world.

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Those who survived the pandemic were then kneecapped again by the raids.

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“I found out he broke his kneecap and I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Ansari continued, Reeves himself standing onstage just a few feet away.

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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.

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