mangle
1 Americannoun
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mangles
plural
verb (used with object)
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to smooth or press with a mangle.
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Metalworking. to squeeze (metal plates) between rollers.
verb
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to mutilate, disfigure, or destroy by cutting, crushing, or tearing
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to ruin, spoil, or mar
noun
verb
Synonym Usage
See maim.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mangle1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Anglo-French mangler, perhaps dissimilated variant of Old French mangonner “to mangle”; akin to mangonel
Origin of mangle2
1765–75; < Dutch mangel ≪ Late Latin manganum. See mangonel
Explanation
When you mangle something, you completely destroy it, by ripping, cutting, crushing, or otherwise mauling it into pieces. You shouldn't leave your new puppy alone in a room with your favorite shoes because he might mangle them with his sharp puppy teeth. A bad accident will mangle your bicycle, bending it beyond repair, and a paper shredder mangles a document by slicing it up. You can also use the word mangle to describe what happens when your uncle's terrible bluegrass band performs a cover of your favorite classic rock song — they mangle it.
Vocabulary lists containing mangle
Ghost
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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"Marigolds"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
If “to toss and mangle these poor human bodies was the . . . law of Nature,” Thoreau asks us, “why waste any time in awe or pity?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
To slightly mangle Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run": the market's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance Powell drive; everybody's out on the run tonight, and there's no place left to hide.
From Reuters ● Mar. 7, 2023
Then I mangle a “merci” and step between the tables, each crowded with young tech workers speaking in euphonic blends of French and English, to a stool by the window overlooking the crowded street.
From New York Times ● Jun. 23, 2022
Ms Bowler said the ring had had "a charmed life" and had been damaged going through a mangle, but it was not expensive jewellery that caught her mother's eye.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2021
Like Bess packing her stuff and leaving didn’t mangle what was left of his broken heart.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
From there, activists could demand almost whatever they want: action on climate change, an end to mass surveillance and ICE raids, or an equitable health system that heals instead of mangles.
From Salon ● Dec. 11, 2025
In the first three months, 86 SigAlerts were issued, only 36 of them for traffic mangles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2024
If he mangles the facts or ignores them altogether, which he does often, Seales said there are other news sites and sources where viewers can fact-check him.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
Mr. Biden sometimes mangles his words and looks older than he used to because of his stiff gait and thinning voice.
From New York Times ● Jun. 4, 2023
And thus every ragged dog mangles me for his own wicked purposes.
From The Sleeping Bard or, Visions of the World, Death, and Hell by George Henry Borrow
Along the roads around Izyum burnt-out shells of petrol stations have become part of the landscape, heaps of mangled, charred metal.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
The team broke through concrete and mangled reinforcing rods to reach him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Outside Odesa, after a recent drone explosion, we found 83-year-old Andrii Dudik, surveying the mangled wreckage of his house and garden.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
We scroll through videos starring unruly passengers or mangled bags, and read about the last resting place for lost luggage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
“So we’re another Horcrux down,” said Ron, and from under his jacket he pulled the mangled remains of Hufflepuff’s cup.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
“Steve ‘Manouychin’ really gave me a ‘beauty’ when he pushed this loser,” Trump posted on social media External link in August, apparently deliberately mangling Mnuchin’s name.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025
Often ridiculed by parliamentary sketch writers for mangling the English language, to supporters he appeared an ordinary man facing the intellectual bullying by people with a better education.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2024
In his characteristic manner, the judge mixed commendation, supplication and insinuation, mangling metaphors and whole sentences in service of cutting insights.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2024
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll pushed too hard in the final seconds of Q2, the second part of qualifying, and slid off into the barriers, mangling his right tire and bringing out a red flag.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 29, 2023
After mangling the Hab, I pulled the remaining canvas down to the flooring and resealed it.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
