eviscerate

verb

evis·​cer·​ate i-ˈvi-sə-ˌrāt 

eviscerated; eviscerating

transitive verb

1

a

: to take out the entrails of : disembowel

b

: to deprive of vital content or force

2

: to remove an organ from (a patient) or the contents of (an organ)

intransitive verb

: to protrude through a surgical incision or suffer protrusion of a part through an incision

evisceration

i-ˌvi-sə-ˈrā-shən 

noun

Synonyms

• clean
• disembowel
• draw
• gut

Examples of eviscerate in a Sentence

the ancient Egyptians would eviscerate the bodies of the dead as part of the process of mummifying them

Recent Examples on the Web

The Supreme Court, in eviscerating decades of administrative law, running roughshod over women’s privacy rights and impeding the federal government’s power to regulate securities law, has aggrandized more power to itself than any court in history. —Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, 1 July 2024

Someone tends to get eviscerated in both, via blade, claw, or zinger. —A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 19 Apr. 2024

Beijing and Moscow both want to fragment the Internet into national spheres of information that are easier to shape and censor and to eviscerate international norms of human rights and the rule of law. —Brett L. Carter, Foreign Affairs, 6 Jan. 2023

One severe freeze could eviscerate a forest, leaving the soft land vulnerable to erosion. —Michael Adno, Scientific American, 25 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin evisceratus, past participle of eviscerare, from e- + viscera viscera

First Known Use

1599, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Kids Definition

eviscerate

verb

evis·​cer·​ate i-ˈvis-ə-ˌrāt 

eviscerated; eviscerating

: to take out the internal organs of

evisceration

-ˌvis-ə-ˈrā-shən 

noun

Medical Definition

eviscerate

verb

evis·​cer·​ate i-ˈvis-ə-ˌrāt 

eviscerated; eviscerating

transitive verb

1

: to remove the viscera of

2

: to remove an organ from (a patient) or the contents of (an organ)

intransitive verb

: to protrude through a surgical incision or suffer protrusion of a part through an incision