lobotomy

American  

[luh-bot-uh-mee, loh-] / ləˈbɒt ə mi, loʊ- /

noun

Surgery.

plural

lobotomies

1. the operation of cutting into a lobe, as of the brain or the lung.

2. prefrontal lobotomy.

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lobotomy British  

/ ləʊˈbɒtəmɪ /

noun

1. a surgical incision into a lobe of any organ

2. Also called: prefrontal leucotomy.  a surgical interruption of one or more nerve tracts in the frontal lobe of the brain: used in the treatment of intractable mental disorders

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lobotomy Scientific  

/ lə-bŏt′ə-mē /

1. Surgical incision into the frontal lobe of the brain to sever one or more nerve tracts, a technique formerly used to treat certain psychiatric disorders but now rarely performed.

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lobotomy Cultural  

1. A surgical incision into one or more of the nerve masses in the front of the brain. A lobotomy may be performed for the relief of certain mental disorders, although it has been largely abandoned in favor of less radical treatments.

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Discover More

Because people who have had a lobotomy often become quite passive after the operation, the term is often used to refer to someone who shows a lack of response or reaction: “She was so tired she just sat there as if she had been lobotomized.”

Etymology

Origin of lobotomy

C20: from _lobe + _-tomy

Explanation

A lobotomy is a surgical procedure that interrupts the nerves in the brain. Before the use of prescription drugs became wide-spread, a common treatment for severe mental illness was lobotomy. The lobotomy was invented in 1935 and used fairly regularly for about twenty years to treat psychosis and other mental illnesses. It was always controversial, and once effective anti-psychosis medications were developed, it fell out of use. Lobotomy results in a calmed, but also often mentally dull patient. The word itself comes from the word lobe, as in a part of brain, combined with tomy, a medical suffix that means "a cutting."

Example Sentences

But that would be like a frontal lobotomy and reduce us to happy animals.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025

While most achievements are still celebrated, some awards have not aged well, such as Egas Moniz' 1949 prize in physiology or medicine for the since banned and discredited practice of lobotomy.

From Reuters • Sep. 29, 2023

Headlines declaring depression “a chemical imbalance,” announcing Prozac as its magical solution and touting the discovery of genes for schizophrenia are no more or less absurd than Laurence’s boosterism for lobotomy.

From Washington Post • Jun. 3, 2022

No doctor in the U.S. has performed a transorbital lobotomy since — at least, so far as the medical record shows — but lobotomies in general continued into the 1970s.

From Salon • Aug. 1, 2021

"Waiter, there's some liveware in my salad…" :lobotomy: n.

From The Jargon File, Version 2.9.10, 01 Jul 1992 by Raymond, Eric S.