mastectomy
Americannoun
noun
-
Surgical removal of all or part of a breast, performed as a treatment for cancer.
-
◆ A radical mastectomy includes excision of the underlying pectoral muscles and regional lymph nodes.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mastectomy
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:
Singer-songwriter Jessie J, who received the outstanding achievement prize, told BBC News that music had helped her through two years of treatment for breast cancer, including a mastectomy.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Turansky said she is now due to undergo a mastectomy.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
In 2013, she underwent a preventive double mastectomy over concerns of her likelihood to develop breast or ovarian cancer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Benson found out at 21 that she had the mutation, too, and underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
They put her in a hospital, where Marie had a radical mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation.
From How and When to Be Your Own Doctor by Solomon, Steve
While there’s no comprehensive data charting prophylactic mastectomies among young people, some surgeons described shifts that have led to changes in their patient demographics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
Dowden underwent chemotherapy and subsequently had two mastectomies, the most recent in November last year.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
“That means unnecessary mastectomies, radiotherapy and chemotherapy,” she writes.
From Salon ● May 13, 2025
Those lumpectomies and mastectomies are essentially “fear-ectomies” that remove something frightening but not medically threatening.
From Slate ● Mar. 22, 2024
On the floors above Delivery, in flowerless rooms, women lay recovering from hysterectomies and mastectomies.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
