: a small straight thin-bladed knife used especially in surgery
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My father founded private hospitals south of Johannesburg, and my mother lectured anatomy, presiding over dissections and preparing meat dishes at home with the same attentive care — removing sinew and fat with a dedicated set of kitchen scalpels.—Jan Steyn, The Dial, 10 Mar. 2026 The bottleneck was never scalpels.—Nicole Fraenkel, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2026 Using a scalpel or laser instead removes P3 completely at the joint.—The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Feb. 2026 Cutting out the scalpel, these therapies work best to tighten the neck, create a sharper jawline, improve crepey skin around the eyes and create a subtle but lifted appearance that still looks natural, Shamban explains.—Elycia Rubin, HollywoodReporter, 13 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for scalpel
Word History
Etymology
Latin scalpellus, scalpellum, diminutive of scalper, scalprum chisel, knife, from scalpere to scratch, carve