mutilate
verb (used with object)
to injure, disfigure, or make imperfect by removing or irreparably damaging parts.
mutilated
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past participleof mutilate.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
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past tense formof mutilate.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
mutilateverb (used with object)to injure, disfigure, or make imperfect by removing or irreparably damaging parts.
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.
The BBC previously investigated the failings and has spoken to multiple women affected, including one who said she felt "mutilated" and the trust's mistakes were "absolutely unforgivable".
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Aristotle recognized that we take pleasure in viewing fictional representations of tragedies, suffering and mutilated corpses that would repulse us if we confronted them in reality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
Our glamorous and gruesome history is all there in a close-up of “Chinatown’s” Jack Nicholson: a movie star with a mutilated nose.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2026
They can cause dangerous diseases like Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida auris among our own kind, massacre beloved fellow animals like frogs and bats and even turn less-charismatic animals like cicadas into horrifyingly mutilated zombies.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2024
Only the fingernails had color; they were metal claws the same gold as the feathers, as if some essence of the figure had pierced the mutilated flesh and burst out from the cuticles.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
