maim

1 of 3

verb

ˈmām 

maimed; maiming; maims

transitive verb

1

: to mutilate, disfigure or wound seriously

2

: to commit the felony of mayhem upon

maimer noun

maim

2 of 3

noun (1)

1

obsolete : serious physical injury

especially : loss of a member of the body

2

obsolete : a serious loss

maimer

3 of 3

noun (2)

maim·​er

-mə(r)

plural -s

: one that maims

a worse killer and maimer than … botulism, typhoid, and trichinosis

—Jeff McDermid

Synonyms of maim

Verb

• incapacitate
• cripple
• injure
• wound
• mutilate
• kill

Choose the Right Synonym for maim

maim, mutilate, mangle mean to injure so severely as to cause lasting damage.

maim implies the loss or injury of a body part.

maimed by a shark

mutilate implies the cutting off or removal of an essential part of a person or thing thereby impairing its completeness, beauty, or function.

a tree mutilated by inept pruning

mangle implies a tearing or crushing that leaves deep wounds.

a soldier's leg mangled by shrapnel

Examples of maim in a Sentence

Verb

The bomb killed 16 people and maimed several others.

on-the-job accidents maim far too many workers every year

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Demining groups say that without international support, Southeast Asia’s unfinished work clearing land mines and unexploded bombs will continue to endanger communities, maiming and killing people and slowing development for years to come. — ABC News, 18 Aug. 2026

His act made use of racial and ethnic slurs, under the philosophy that taboo words lost their maiming edge with repetition. — Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2026

Noun

She was booked on a dozen counts of willful/malicious kill/maim/torture animal, horse, and three counts of felony malicious destruction of private property over $5,000, police said in a press release. — Kimberlee Speakman, PEOPLE, 2 June 2026

The direct damage includes full-on wolf attacks that kill or maim cattle. — Sacbee.com, 1 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English maimen (also mayhamen, maynhen, meygnen, maynyn), borrowed from Anglo-French mahaigner, mainier, maheimer (continental Old French mahaignier, maagner), perhaps borrowed from Old Low Franconian *maiđanjan "to castrate," derivative of a Germanic stem *maiþ- (from whence also Middle High German meidem, meiden "gelding," Old Icelandic meiða "to hurt, injure," Gothic gamaiþs* "crippled, injured," only in accusative plural gamaidans), of uncertain origin

Note: The formal history of this word is curious, in that the loss of the presumed dental consonant in the hypothetical Germanic source does not generally lead to contraction in Old French, but rather the insertion of a hiatus-filling h, whether phonetic or merely orthographic (see the display of forms at the entry mahaignier in Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français); compare the loss of hiatus in the French source of gain entry 2. In Anglo-French and Middle English a further change is the frequent replacement of n with m. B. Diensberg attributes this to "the -m ⁓ -n alternation, typical of Anglo-French" ("Old French Loanwords of Germanic Origin Borrowed into English," Symposium on Lexicography X: Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Lexicography May 4-6 2000 at the University of Copenhagen [Tübingen, 2002], pp. 100-02); however, the putative parallel he cites (Anglo-French rançun vs. English ransom) is a clear case of dissimilation, as are other instances—see R. Jordan, Handbuch der mittelenglischen Grammatik, §254. The contracted monosyllabic form maim, already predominant in Middle English, became the sole survivor by ca. 1700. For the corresponding noun derivative, see mayhem.

Noun (1)

Middle English maym, maheym, mayehem "mutilation, injury" — more at mayhem

First Known Use

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (1)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for maim

• aim
• blame
• brame
• came
• claim
• dame
• fame
• flame
• frame
• game
• haim
• lame

Kids Definition

maim

verb

ˈmām

: to injure or disfigure badly

Medical Definition

maim

transitive verb

ˈmām 

1

: to mutilate, disfigure, or wound seriously

2

: to commit the felony of mayhem upon

maimer noun

Legal Definition

maim

transitive verb

ˈmām 

: to mutilate, disfigure, or wound seriously compare mayhem