scalpel

[ skal-puhl ]

noun

1. a small, light, usually straight knife used in surgical and anatomical operations and dissections.

scalpel

/ skælˈpɛlɪk; ˈskælpəl /

noun

1. a surgical knife with a short thin blade

Derived Forms

• scalpellic, adjective

Other Words From

• scal·pel·lic [skal-, pel, -ik], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of scalpel¹

1735–45; < Latin scalpellum, diminutive of scalprum tool for scraping or paring (derivative of scalpere to scratch); for formation castellum

Word History and Origins

Origin of scalpel¹

C18: from Latin scalpellum, from scalper a knife, from scalpere to scrape

Example Sentences

Instead, every few months, a veterinarian equipped with little more than a topical anesthetic and a scalpel will remove a peppercorn-size sample of muscle from their flanks, stitch up the tiny incision and send the cows back to their pasture.

From Time

They’re managing outbreaks with a scalpel, instead of a machete.

From Voice of San Diego

It was the culmination of months of learning to be comfortable with the body in front of us, a process that accumulated in small pauses between tasks, before digging in with tweezers and a scalpel.

From Nautilus

A few years ago, Procter & Gamble and Unilever overhauled their PPC strategies and took a scalpel to their budgets, decreasing them by 6% and 30%, respectively.

From Search Engine Land

Regardless, the rise of tutoring bots over marketplaces illustrates that some of the biggest decision-makers in edtech are taking a scalpel to the way that tutoring used to work and hope to scale faster by doing so.

From TechCrunch

You have to use the electric scalpel and make a shaky incision on purpose, because palm lines are never completely straight.

From The Daily Beast

All you need is a competent plastic surgeon with an electric scalpel who has a basic knowledge of palmistry.

From The Daily Beast

"You give the scalpel to the doctors for a reason," said O'Mara.

From The Daily Beast

Using a scalpel, Rowe cuts out portions of the illustration and then stands them up.

From The Daily Beast

Boycotting a country is the equivalent of a blunt, lethal machete not a delicate scalpel.

From The Daily Beast

If he lack a corpse, he stretches himself on the slab of black marble and buries the scalpel deep in his own heart.

From Project Gutenberg

Althotas listened in silence, with no other token of impatience than fidgeting with a scalpel in his hands.

From Project Gutenberg

Take the scalpel and sever the spinal column without cutting the larynx.

From Project Gutenberg

I jerked my head aside far enough that the scalpel grated along my cheekbone instead of slashing my mouth.

From Project Gutenberg

Let your mind be as a sharp scalpel, penetrating unrealities and falsehoods, cutting its way to the facts.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bayonet
• blade
• cutter
• dagger
• machete
• sickle
• skewer
• sword