as in to clean
to take the internal organs out of ancient Roman prophets would disembowel animals in order to read the future from their entrails

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of disembowel Analyzing the legendary unicorn tapestries hanging at the Met Cloisters in New York (augmented here by a gory new panel that depicts the suddenly fearsome animals disemboweling and impaling their aggressors), Ridley concludes that unicorns aren’t nearly as benevolent as most people think. Peter Debruge, Variety, 9 Mar. 2025 You might be left out in the open air to live on in the form of the vultures that disembowel you, or, like the Tollund Man, you could be submitted to a peat bog upon your death so that your bones dissolve in the acidic environment while your skin remains perfectly preserved. Cutter Wood, Harper's Magazine, 28 Feb. 2025 The man’s fears are realized when the monkey suddenly begins banging his drum, with a Rube Goldberg-style series of events causing the proprietor to get graphically disemboweled. Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Feb. 2025 Sergio Leone’s gangster opus spanned 229 minutes in its original European cut — the director initially wanted to release it in two three-hour parts — then got reduced to 139 minutes by its American distributors with the predictable effects of arbitrarily disemboweling 90 minutes of a film. Kevin Lincoln, Vulture, 20 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for disembowel
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disembowel
Verb
  • Outdoor water containers that should be cleaned include bird baths and pet dishes.
    Caelyn Pender, Mercury News, 25 Apr. 2025
  • Affleck’s Christian Wolff is a monotone bean counter who used to help criminal organizations launder money and clean their books.
    Jake Coyle, Twin Cities, 24 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • He's promised to remove taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security, and continue tax cuts that primarily benefited the wealthy, passed during his first term.
    Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 28 Apr. 2025
  • But DeShields has struggled to find consistent minutes since undergoing spinal surgery to remove a tumor in 2019, then suffering a knee injury that sidelined her for the entire 2023 season.
    Emily Adams, Hartford Courant, 27 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Consumers have reported rising anxiety about the outlook and near-term inflation as President Donald Trump has launched a global trade war while at the same time working to eviscerate the federal government.
    Michael S. Derby, USA Today, 22 Apr. 2025
  • My heart bleeds over the destructive way this company eviscerated our beloved Walgreens!
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 15 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Disembowel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disembowel. Accessed 3 May. 2025.

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