lobotomy

American  

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

noun

Surgery.

lobotomies plural

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.”

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• lobotomies
  plural

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

See Examples For:

lobotomy lobotomies

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025

The history of lobotomy is such that no one would want to be associated with reckless brain surgery.

From Salon ● Mar. 25, 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

It is almost understandable how he embraced lobotomy early in his career — the first effective psychiatric drugs were still decades away, and doctors were desperate to offer suffering patients some treatment.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 14, 2023

And there were still more radical procedures, prefrontal lobotomy for instance.

From The Sensitive Man by Anderson, Poul William

In the early to mid-1900s, destructive, dangerous and not very effective brain surgeries such as lobotomies were performed routinely for mental illness without regulation, ethical guidelines or regulatory oversight.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2022

Walter Freeman did for lobotomies what Henry Ford did for cars — he simplified the process and made them accessible to the masses.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 14, 2021

In the early 1960s, about 500 lobotomies were carried out each year in the UK, down from 1,500 at its peak.

From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2021

A chapter on Chattahoochee meanders away from the Daniels case and into varieties of shock therapy, ice pick lobotomies, Rosemary Kennedy and unwritten “paramour rights.”

From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2018

Work is focused on individuals who are about to undergo partial lobotomies to treat intractable epilepsy.

From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Nadin, Mihai