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
• flubbing
• damaging
• 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

Indirect signs also suggest the proto-Neolithic community also dined on the European glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus), which featured tough scales that necessitated a completely different type of butchering. — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 20 Aug. 2026

Elephants are widely adored by many people today — but a recent study suggests early humans were butchering them for survival nearly 2 million years ago. — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 14 Aug. 2026

With more than 3 billion users, WhatsApp is among the largest areas of scam activity, like wire transfers and pig butchering scams. — Stevie Bonifield, The Verge, 13 Aug. 2026

Bornemann had spent the day butchering a whole lamb and sent out family-style bowls of handmade pasta under lamb ragù. — David Hochman, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026

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

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