lacerate

American  

[las-uh-reyt, las-uh-reyt, -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.

---

adjective

1. lacerated.

lacerate British  

verb

1. to tear (the flesh, etc) jaggedly

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

---

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

Etymology

Origin of lacerate

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

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

New verbs entered the surf lexicon: shred, tear, lacerate.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 26, 2019

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

There are other reasons, but I don't want to hurt your feelings any more than I wish to lacerate those of my worthy colleagues.

From Thurston of Orchard Valley by W. Herbert Dunton

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

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

From Washington Post ● Aug. 9, 2021

This left Levy feeling like the possibility of motherhood has been cut off, and she lacerates herself for imagining she had it within her power to create a new kind of improvised family.

From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2017

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

Worry deliberately pains, wounds, hurts, pinches, tweaks, grates upon, galls, chafes, gnaws, pricks, lancinates, lacerates, pierces, cuts, gravels, corrodes, mortifies, shocks, horrifies, twinges and gripes its victims.

From Quit Your Worrying! by George Wharton James

"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

I find Abuela sitting motionless on her wicker swing, wearing a worn bathing suit, her hair stuck haphazardly to her skull, her feet strangely lacerated.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

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

Last month Success Academy released a lacerating report saying more than 900 city schools have failure rates above 50% in reading, math or both.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

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

“GNX” finds him back in the lane of 2017’s “DAMN.” — a mix of menacing, lyrically lacerating street cuts and dense, narrative-driven work.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 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

Related Words

• mangle