Adjacent Words

Mutilate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MU'TILATE, v.t. [L. mutilo, probably from the root of meto, to cut off.]
1. To cut off a limb or essential part of an animal body. To cut off the hand or foot is to mutilate the body or the person.
2. To cut or break off, or otherwise separate any important part, as of a statue or building.
3. To retrench, destroy or remove any material part, so as to render the thing imperfect; as, to mutilate the poems of Homer or the orations of Cicero.
Among the mutilated poets of antiquity,there is none whose fragments are so beautiful as those of Sappho.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: destroy or injure severely; "The madman mutilates art work" [syn: mutilate, mangle, cut up]
2: alter so as to make unrecognizable; "The tourists murdered the French language" [syn: mangle, mutilate, murder]
3: destroy or injure severely; "mutilated bodies" [syn: mutilate, mar]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-lated; -lating) Etymology: Latin mutilatus, past participle of mutilare, from mutilus truncated, maimed Date: 1534 1. to cut up or alter radically so as to make imperfect <the child mutilated the book with his scissors> 2. to cut off or permanently destroy a limb or essential part of ; cripple Synonyms: see maim • mutilation noun • mutilator noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 a deprive (a person or animal) of a limb or organ. b destroy the use of (a limb or organ). 2 render (a book etc.) imperfect by excision or some act of destruction. Derivatives: mutilation n. mutilative adj. mutilator n. Etymology: L mutilare f. mutilus maimed

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mutilate Mu"ti*late, a. [L. mutilatus, p. p. of mutilare to mutilate, fr. mutilus maimed; cf. Gr. ?, ?. Cf. Mutton.] 1. Deprived of, or having lost, an important part; mutilated. --Sir T. Browne. 2. (Zo["o]l.) Having finlike appendages or flukes instead of legs, as a cetacean.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mutilate Mu"ti*late, n. (Zo["o]l.) A cetacean, or a sirenian.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mutilate Mu"ti*late, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mutilated; p. pr. & vb. n. Mutilating.] 1. To cut off or remove a limb or essential part of; to maim; to cripple; to hack; as, to mutilate the body, a statue, etc. 2. To destroy or remove a material part of, so as to render imperfect; as, to mutilate the orations of Cicero. Among the mutilated poets of antiquity, there is none whose fragments are so beautiful as those of Sappho. --Addison. Mutilated gear, Mutilated wheel (Mach.), a gear wheel from a portion of whose periphery the cogs are omitted. It is used for giving intermittent movements.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mutilates, mutilating, mutilated) 1. If a person or animal is mutilated, their body is severely damaged, usually by someone who physically attacks them. More than 30 horses have been mutilated in the last nine months... He tortured and mutilated six young men... The mutilated bodies of seven men have been found beside a railway line. VERB: be V-ed, V n, V-ed • mutilation (mutilations) Amnesty International chronicles cases of torture and mutilation... N-VAR 2. If something is mutilated, it is deliberately damaged or spoiled. Brecht's verdict was that his screenplay had been mutilated... VERB: be V-ed, also V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Disfigure, maim, cripple. 2. Mangle, injure.

Moby Thesaurus

abrade, abscind, alter, amputate, annihilate, ban, bar, bark, blemish, bloody, bob, break, burn, butcher, castrate, chafe, change, check, chip, claw, clip, crack, craze, cripple, crop, cull, cut, cut away, cut off, cut out, damage, deface, defoliate, deform, denude, desexualize, destroy, disable, disfigure, dismember, disproportion, dock, draw and quarter, eliminate, enucleate, eradicate, except, excise, exclude, extinguish, extirpate, fix, flay, fracture, fray, frazzle, fret, gall, gash, geld, hurt, incise, injure, isolate, knock off, lacerate, lame, lop, maim, make mincemeat of, mangle, mar, maul, mayhem, misshape, neuter, nip, pare, peel, pick out, pick to pieces, pierce, prune, pull apart, puncture, rend, rip, rip off, root out, ruin, rule out, run, rupture, savage, scald, scorch, scotch, scrape, scratch, scuff, set apart, set aside, shave, shear, shred, skin, slash, slit, spoil, sprain, stab, stamp out, stick, strain, strike off, strip, strip off, take apart, take off, take out, tear, tear apart, tear off, tear to pieces, tear to tatters, traumatize, truncate, unsex, vandalize, wipe out, wound, wrench