body piercing

noun

|Updated on: 16 Jul 2018

Definition of body piercing

: the practice or an instance of adorning the body with jewelry or ornamentation that penetrates the flesh

Recent Examples of body piercing from the Web

Fourteen percent of Americans had a body piercing (somewhere other than their earlobes) in 2014.

— mary bernard, Philly.com, "Will that tattoo hurt you professionally? Not if you're a doctor, study finds," 9 July 2018
The gun battle was fought a few feet away from a meat market where Ellis Zahniser, 42, lay critically wounded, his body pierced with five bullets fired by White at close range.

— sandiegouniontribune.com, "June 13, 1932: Gunfight in Carlsbad," 13 June 2018
Gwinnett Commissioners voted recently to renew a special use permit for a tattoo and body piercing parlor in the 1000 block of Duluth Highway between McKendree Church Road and Parkside Walk Lane in unincorporated Lawrenceville.

— karen huppertz, ajc, "Gwinnett commissioners renew Lawrenceville tattoo parlor permit," 7 Feb. 2018
There's also not enough reliable data indicating the number of body piercing complications, the report said.

— meredith newman, USA TODAY, "Report: More young people have tattoos and piercings than ever before," 20 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'body piercing.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.