Synonyms of butchering

butchering

verb

present participle of butcher

1

as in slaughtering

to kill on a large scale

the barbarians butchered the monks in the monasteries without mercy

Synonyms & Similar Words

• slaughtering
• murdering
• massacring
• slaying
• executing
• destroying
• dispatching
• mowing (down)
• assassinating
• eradicating
• exterminating
• demolishing
• wasting
• smiting
• felling
• wiping out
• devastating
• snuffing
• annihilating
• decimating
• doing in
• croaking
• blotting out

2

as in fumbling

to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way

the new piano student butchered the sonatina

Synonyms & Similar Words

• fumbling
• blowing
• murdering
• mangling
• dubbing
• ruining
• destroying
• botching
• bungling
• spoiling
• booting
• fluffing
• boggling
• bumbling
• marring
• screwing up
• mutilating
• damaging
• flubbing
• bobbling
• wrecking
• mucking up
• muffing
• goofing (up)
• injuring
• fouling up
• messing (up)
• blundering
• buggering (up)
• foozling
• hurting
• impairing
• harming
• bollixing (up)
• muddling
• lousing up
• blighting
• gumming (up)
• vitiating
• mismanaging
• flawing
• blemishing
• piffling
• mishandling

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• improving
• helping
• enhancing
• refining
• reforming
• rectifying
• bettering
• remedying
• ameliorating
• repairing
• fixing
• doctoring
• renovating
• revamping
• reconditioning
• meliorating
• patching

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of butchering

The theory is that individuals became infected by a strain that was particularly lethal to the young through close contact with marmots (rodents that are known reservoirs of the plague), perhaps while butchering them. — The Week Uk, TheWeek, 6 July 2026

Normally, that involves making stone tools, butchering deer, or distilling birch tar. — ArsTechnica, 2 June 2026

Newmark warns that the pig-butchering problem is likely to get worse thanks to AI. — Rob Pegoraro, PC Magazine, 1 June 2026

People began losing touch with butchering an entire animal, as well as with preparation methods for organ meats. — Teresa Mull, FOXNews.com, 18 May 2026

ProPublica has chronicled the dark world of pig butchering, in which human traffickers in Asia force their victims to scam people by posing as friends or potential romantic interests. — Robert Faturechi, ProPublica, 11 Apr. 2026

While pig butchering operations are veering toward the sophisticated and professional, horrendous abuses persist. — Charlie Campbell, Time, 7 Apr. 2026

By butchering the fish in the restaurant, Hanke reduces the amount of time in which the quality of the fish could deteriorate. — Lucia Cheng, Des Moines Register, 25 Mar. 2026

At first, the recruits wonder if this is all part of the big test, though when the machine starts butchering them, the sole survivors realise that something else is up. — Sergio Pereira, Space.com, 11 Mar. 2026