mutilate
Americanverb
-
to deprive of a limb, essential part, etc; maim; dismember
-
to mar, expurgate, or damage (a text, book, etc)
Related Words
See maim.
Other Word Forms
- mutilation noun
- mutilative adjective
- mutilator noun
- mutilatory adjective
- self-mutilating adjective
- self-mutilation noun
- unmutilated adjective
- unmutilative adjective
Etymology
Origin of mutilate
1525–35; from Latin mutilātus (past participle of mutilāre “to cut off, maim”), equivalent to mutil(us) “maimed, mutilated” + -ātus -ate 1
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.
Cassandra Pybus says there is no doubt that Crowther did mutilate Lanne, citing letters he wrote.
From BBC • Sep. 14, 2024
Prosecutors accuse the former president of trying to “alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal evidence,” and of inducing another person to do so.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 28, 2023
“We have concluded on the basis of present evidence that Nosenko was dispatched to the West to mutilate counterintelligence leads which had been revealed by Golitsyn,” Angleton said.
From Washington Times • Jan. 1, 2023
It would stiffen the maximum penalties for people who willfully steal, destroy, conceal, mutilate or alter such records from $1,000 and one year in prison to $10,000 and two years in prison.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 9, 2022
I don’t know, I guess I always thought I’d turn out okay, no matter how badly my many schools tried to mutilate me.
From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi
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.
