maim
[ meym ]
/ meɪm /
verb (used with object)
to deprive of the use of some part of the body by wounding or the like; cripple: The explosion maimed him for life.
to impair; make essentially defective: The essay was maimed by deletion of important paragraphs.
noun Obsolete.
a physical injury, especially a loss of a limb.
an injury or defect; blemish; lack.
Nearby words
maillot, mailman, mailroom, mailsack, mailshot, maim, maiman, maimonides, main, main body, main brace
Origin of maim
SYNONYMS FOR maim
1 Maim, lacerate, mangle, mutilate indicate the infliction of painful and severe injuries on the body. To maim is to injure by giving a disabling wound, or by depriving a person of one or more members or their use: maimed in an accident. To lacerate is to inflict severe cuts and tears on the flesh or skin: to lacerate an arm. To mangle is to chop undiscriminatingly or to crush or rend by blows or pressure, as if by machinery: bodies mangled in a train wreck. To mutilate is to injure the completeness or beauty of a body, especially by cutting off an important member: to mutilate a statue, a tree, a person.
2 injure, disable, deface, mar.
Related forms
Can be confused
maim mayhem (see synonym study at the current entry)Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for maimed
British Dictionary definitions for maimed
maim
/ (meɪm) /
verb (tr)
to mutilate, cripple, or disable a part of the body of (a person or animal)
to make defective
noun
obsolete an injury or defect
Derived Forms
maimedness (ˈmeɪmɪdnɪs), nounmaimer, nounWord Origin for maim
C14: from Old French mahaignier to wound, probably of Germanic origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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