as in to reduce
to reduce or weaken in strength or feeling
time had cauterized his bitterness, and he was willing to let bygones be bygones
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Recent Examples of cauterize
For patients deemed female, excess flesh could be cut away, and for patients deemed male, the vulva could be cauterized to close it.
—
Sarah Barringer, The Conversation, 18 Feb. 2025
This brought to mind a discovery made by Ambroise Paré.
Paré, who lived from 1510 to 1590, worked on the battlefields of France, and was taught to cauterize gunshot wounds with boiling oil.
—The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
All of his attempts to cut away his past, to cauterize himself and separate himself from it, would fail.
—Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Nov. 2024
Two arms tipped with multiple tools can perforate gastric ulcers, cauterize and suture wounds, or perform emergency appendectomies.
—IEEE Spectrum, 2 Apr. 2014
See All Example Sentences for cauterize
Sarah Barringer, The Conversation, 18 Feb. 2025
This brought to mind a discovery made by Ambroise Paré.
Paré, who lived from 1510 to 1590, worked on the battlefields of France, and was taught to cauterize gunshot wounds with boiling oil.
—The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
All of his attempts to cut away his past, to cauterize himself and separate himself from it, would fail.
—Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Nov. 2024
Two arms tipped with multiple tools can perforate gastric ulcers, cauterize and suture wounds, or perform emergency appendectomies.
—IEEE Spectrum, 2 Apr. 2014
See All Example Sentences for cauterize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cauterize
Verb
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His team accused Whatley of distorting the facts to cover for his support of federal policies that reduced funding for local police.—
Samantha-Jo Roth,
The Washington Examiner,
11 Sep. 2025
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Valentino has been streamlining its wholesale channel, reduced by about 20 percent in 2024, a strategy that continued in 2025 and that is expected to impact its year-end performance.—
Luisa Zargani,
Footwear News,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Companies will ultimately pass at least some of those additional taxes on to consumers, though the process will take many months due to various business strategies to try to blunt the impact, economists said.—
Greg Iacurci,
CNBC,
11 Sep. 2025
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The very tool meant to sharpen medical practice had perhaps blunted it.—
Murali Doraiswamy,
Time,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Horror of this scale has the effect of deadening words, making stories of the most unimaginable violence land with a dull thud.—
Jack Sheehan
September 4,
Literary Hub,
4 Sep. 2025
-
The Finnish midfielder deadened the ball with a foot and quickly chipped it laterally over nearby defenders.—
Tom Krasovic,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 July 2025
Verb
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In parts of Southeast Asia, totality will begin as the full moon rises, dulling the effect.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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Even when the Dodgers find a glimmer, it has been dulled rather quickly.—
Fabian Ardaya,
New York Times,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
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That transition will bring with it some advantages (the conflict of being a part of the Comcast empire is diminished) but also challenges.—
Alex Weprin,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Sep. 2025
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Many observers feel that the family’s power in Thailand is diminished, and its long dominant political machine could finally be out of steam.—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Because both actors look like lumpish proletarian versions of Ingmar Bergman stars — Alma Pöysti, radiant yet benumbed, plays Ansa like a dish-towel Bibi Andersson, and Jussi Vatanen could be the schlump brother of Max von Sydow (with a dollop of Ryan Gosling).—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
23 May 2023
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What’s destructive, and eventually benumbing, is the kitchen-sink clutter of fantasy, reality, wish-fulfillment and glib enchantment.—
Joe Morgenstern,
WSJ,
24 Jan. 2019
Verb
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Foreign powers such as Russia and China, which challenge America and its allies from Europe to the Middle East to Taiwan and the South China Sea, have long been accused of exploiting such divisions through disinformation campaigns that inflame tensions and weaken confidence in American governance.—
Amir Daftari,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Sep. 2025
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But around the equinoxes, the natural buffer weakens.—
Daisy Dobrijevic,
Space.com,
12 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cauterize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cauterize. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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