lacerate

American  

[las-uh-rayt, las-uh-rayt, -er-it] / ˈlæs əˌreɪt, ˈlæs əˌreɪt, -ər ɪt /

verb (used with object)

• lacerates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• lacerated,
  past participle,  past
• lacerating
  present participle

1. to tear roughly; mangle.

   The barbed wire lacerated his hands.

   Synonyms:

   rend

2. to distress or torture mentally or emotionally; wound deeply; pain greatly.

   His bitter criticism lacerated my heart.

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adjective

1. lacerated.

lacerate British  

verb

1. to tear (the flesh, etc) jaggedly

2. to hurt or harrow (the feelings, etc)

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adjective

1. having edges that are jagged or torn; lacerated

   lacerate leaves

Synonym Usage

See maim.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• lacerability
  noun
• laceration
  noun
• lacerable
  adjective
• lacerative
  adjective
• self-lacerating
  adjective
• unlacerating
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• lacerating
  present
• lacerated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• lacerate
  simple
• lacerates
  simple
• have lacerated
  perfect
• has lacerated
  perfect
• am lacerating
  progressive
• are lacerating
  progressive
• is lacerating
  progressive
• have been lacerating
  perfect progressive
• has been lacerating
  perfect progressive

Past

• lacerated
  simple
• had lacerated
  perfect
• was lacerating
  progressive
• were lacerating
  progressive
• had been lacerating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will lacerate
  simple
• will have lacerated
  perfect
• will be lacerating
  progressive
• will have been lacerating
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of lacerate

1535–45; from Latin lacerātus, past participle of lacerāre “to tear up” (derivative of lacer “mangled”); see -ate ¹

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Explanation

The verb lacerate means to cut or tear. So the envelope that gave you that nasty paper cut? It lacerated your finger. Something usually needs to be sharp or jagged to lacerate you, like broken glass or a sharp stick. You won't be getting lacerated anytime soon by lace or cotton balls, that's for sure. But watch out for sharp-tongued people hurling hateful words your way; those snide remarks and personal digs can lacerate feelings like a knife slicing through butter.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lacerate lacerates lacerated lacerating

While large shards of plastic can lacerate organ walls, the smaller particles, known as microplastics, can be just as deleterious.

From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2023

It’s a story that will lacerate your heart.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 9, 2019

Despite the carping of her critics, Clinton does in fact lacerate herself for losing.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2017

Commercial radio did not arrive until 1920, and 1916 phonographs would lacerate 2017 sensibilities, as would 1916’s silent movies.

From Washington Post ● May 5, 2017

The pores are small, unequal, long, flexuous, dentate, lacerate.

From The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Miron Elisha Hard

Baumbach’s signature serio-comic touch, in which the humor lacerates as much as the drama, should be in full effect here.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025

The district court lacerates the argument simply by restating it:

From Slate ● Dec. 4, 2023

This summer lacerates us as we gradually accept that warnings won’t work.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 9, 2021

As it is, spare a thought for likely runner-up, Michelle Williams for Manchester by the Sea, who lacerates your heart in a fraction of Davis’ screen time.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 23, 2017

You look pale, princess, in spite of your rouge, and your laugh lacerates the heart.

From Berlin and Sans-Souci; or Frederick the Great and his friends by L. (Luise) Mühlbach

"I'm convinced that if my nerve was lacerated tomorrow I would have our implant put in," he said.

From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026

“We have been lacerated by the tentacles of corruption and by criminal networks that have profoundly marked the life of our country,” Zelaya wrote on X on Monday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025

He left the room, returning with a metronome whose loud, mechanical clicking lacerated the otherwise-fine mood being created by a Bach record on the turntable.

From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2025

Barabak: She lacerated Trump, citing his role inciting the Jan. 6 riot, his felony conviction for election interference and a jury’s finding he was liable for sexual abuse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2024

So that at eight in the morning half the town was in the square, where Father Nicanor chanted the gospels in a voice that had been lacerated by his pleading.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Trade bible Variety called it a "lacerating portrait," while Deadline said the "damning" film had "thrashed" Musk as "petty, narcissistic, megalomaniacal, cruel."

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

The writing in that book is sardonic and lacerating, but it doesn’t dazzle for its own sake.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026

One of the most lacerating fictional critiques of the American dream remains the song “Remember My Forgotten Man” and its accompanying set piece in Busby Berkeley’s “Gold Diggers of 1933.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2025

Instead, with deep feeling and lacerating and gentle words, Leigh creates a world that, like the vast, mysterious one hovering outside its frame, can seem agonizingly empty if you can’t see the people in it.

From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2024

This impression was dispelled early on when a probationer in Briony’s year, a large, kindly, slow-moving girl with a cow’s harmless gaze, met the lacerating force of the ward sister’s fury.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

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Related Words

• mangle

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