Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To injure severely or disfigure, especially by cutting off tissue or body parts. synonym: mangle.
- transitive verb To damage or mar (an object).
from The Century Dictionary.
- . Same as
mutilated . - Specifically, deprived of hind limbs, as a cetacean or a sirenian. See
Mutilata . - noun A member of the Mutilata; a cetacean or a sirenian.
- To cut off a limb or any important part of; deprive of any characteristic member, feature, or appurtenance, so as to disfigure; maim: as, to
mutilate a body or a statue; to mutilate a tree or a picture. - Figuratively, to excise, erase, or expunge any important part from, so as to render incomplete or imperfect, as a record or a poem.
- Synonyms Mutilate, Maim, Cripple, Mangle, Disfigure. Mutilate emphasizes the injury to completeness and to beauty: as, to
mulilate a statue. Maim and cripple note the injury to the use of the members of the body, maim suggesting perhaps more of unsightliness, pain, and actual loss of members, and cripple more directly emphasizing the diminished power of action: as, crippled in the left arm. Mangle expresses a badly hacked or torn condition: as, a mangled finger or arm. Disfigure covers simply such changes of the external form as injure its appearance or beauty: one may be fearfully mangled in battle, so as to be disfigured for life, and yet finally escape being mutilated or maimed, or even crippled. - Mutilate, Garble, Misquote. To mutilate is to take parts of a thing, so as to leave it imperfect or incomplete; to garble is to take parts of a thing in such a way as to make them convey a false impression; to misquote is to quote incorrectly, whether intentionally or not: as, to
mutilate a hymn; to garble a passage from an official report; to garble another's words; to misquote a text of Scripture. Garble has completely lost its primary meaning.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Deprived of, or having lost, an important part; mutilated.
- adjective (Zoöl.) Having finlike appendages or flukes instead of legs, as a cetacean.
- transitive verb To cut off or remove a limb or essential part of; to maim; to cripple; to disfigure; to hack
- transitive verb To destroy or remove a material part of, so as to render imperfect.
- transitive verb (Mach.) a gear wheel from a portion of whose periphery the cogs are omitted. It is used for giving intermittent movements.
- noun (Zoöl.) A cetacean, or a sirenian.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To physically harm as to
impair use, notably by cutting off or otherwise disabling a vital part, such as a limb. - verb To
destroy beyond recognition. - verb figuratively To render
imperfect .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb alter so as to make unrecognizable
- verb destroy or injure severely
- verb destroy or injure severely
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I use the word mutilate, because while it may be artistic to you, lets face it, clinically speaking, its mutilation to everyone else.
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As for the instinct to mutilate, that is as easily accounted for as any other inherited habit, whether of man to mutilate cattle, or of ants to make slaves, or of birds to make their nests.
Life and Habit Samuel Butler 1868
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Most women who have had hysterectomies to be relieved of painful periods are not going to take kindly to the word's "mutilate" and I wonder how the words used here make breast cancer patients who have lost breasts feel?
Ashley's Treatment Dave Hingsburger 2007
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We who do know the whole story in fullest detail will understand that it was desirable to 'mutilate' the book, and that, indeed, truth did in some measure require it.
Charlotte Brontë and Her Circle Clement King Shorter 1891
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Some forums in other countries have expressed horror at how I 'mutilate' my eyelids to make them appear to be double eyelids, but it's really not a big deal.
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"He won't have assets that grow so big that mutilate that advantage."
Mining for Hidden Gems Among Funds Javier Espinoza 2011
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And later, when the pile caught fire (to mutilate a metaphor), publisher dollars became scarce as they fought to survive massive financial losses.
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And I can also say that to renew your passport, all you need to do is pay a fee, send a new photo, and mail in your old passport so they can mutilate it.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Second Circuit Due Process Victory for Connecticut Carry Permit Holders 2010
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Let's see, the state wants to keep 10-12 year olds from buying games where they can mutilate and decapitate the opponent, showing war and gang violence, etc.
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PETA says breeders often mutilate their birds to give them a stronger chance in the ring, and the group has campaigned against cockfighting in the Philippines in the past.
The Ultimate Fighters Ted Lerner 2011
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word mutilate
“The source of most human violence and suffering has been a
hidden children's holocaust throughout history, whereby billions
of innocent human beings have been routinely murdered, bound,
starved, raped, mutilated, battered and tortured by their parents
and other caregivers, so that they grow up as emotionally crippled
adults and become vengeful time bombs who periodically restage
their early traumas in sacrificial rites called wars.�?
Lloyd deMause
July 19, 2009
kmassie commented on the word mutilate
From the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. pg.85
"That I let the capitol kill the boy and mutilate her without lifting a finger."
November 29, 2010
kmassie commented on the word mutilate
From the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. pg.85
"That I let the capitol kill the boy and mutilate her without lifting a finger."
November 29, 2010