mutilating

verb

present participle of mutilate
as in crippling
to cause severe or permanent injury to was lucky not to be mutilated in the car crash

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 mutilating Guess which mowing league isn't mutilating hedgehogs? — Joe Kinsey Outkick, FOXNews.com, 12 June 2026 Tony Lee Hughes, 38, of the 600 block of Camelot Manor, is charged with Level 6 felonies of killing a domestic animal and mutilating a vertebrate animal. — Jim Woods, Chicago Tribune, 8 June 2026 Apparently, their definition of resistance is to gang rape as many women and men of all ages as possible before torturing, mutilating and murdering them. — Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore Sun, 14 May 2026 Nearly a year after her death, Burke was arrested and charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14 and mutilating a body. — Austin Turner, CBS News, 29 Apr. 2026 D4vd pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a body in connection with Rivas Hernandez’s death. — Jessica Schaldebeck, New York Daily News, 21 Apr. 2026 Burke is formally charged with murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a body. — ABC News, 20 Apr. 2026 The strikes have also ripped through the historic palaces my father proudly showed me as a child, mutilating Iran’s ancient cultural heritage. — Alex Shams, Time, 14 Mar. 2026 Nationwide, the first successful prosecution happened in 2016 when a Houston man was sentenced to five years for creating videos that featured a woman mutilating and killing puppies, chickens and kittens and distributing them on the internet. — Jay Weaver, The Orlando Sentinel, 3 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mutilating
  1. crippling
  2. incapacitating
  3. wounding
  4. injuring
  5. maiming
  6. disabling
  7. damaging
  8. killing
Verb
  • And the high pay they’re being offered as a lure is crippling the economy.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Trump claims the United States has opened the strait to all commercial ships other than those from Iran, crippling Iran's economy because of its reliance on oil exports.
    — Joey Garrison, USA Today, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of crippling
Verb
  • The video shows the Taser not incapacitating her and the woman walking quickly toward the officers while waving the knives in front of her.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 31 Aug. 2026
  • All that before disorienting and incapacitating a potential school shooter in about a minute.
    — Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of incapacitating
Verb
  • In Zaporizhzhia, drone strikes killed a 74-year-old man and wounded three people, while a drone damaged an apartment building, wounding seven people, in the Khmelnytskyi region.
    — Samya Kullab, Fortune, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Iran accused Washington of striking a wedding party, killing four people and wounding dozens.
    — Kanishka Singh, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of wounding
Verb
  • Young people armed with machetes stormed the site of the funeral, forcing the team to flee and injuring one member, a representative told the Associated Press.
    — Constant Same Bagalwa, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The lawsuit states that the accused was arrested in May 2021 for injuring a man and damaging multiple vehicles after discharging a firearm more than 20 times at a Kissimmee gas station and then fleeing the scene.
    — Evonne Andris, Miami Herald, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of injuring
Verb
  • Demining groups say that without international support, Southeast Asia’s unfinished work clearing land mines and unexploded bombs will continue to endanger communities, maiming and killing people and slowing development for years to come.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 18 Aug. 2026
  • His act made use of racial and ethnic slurs, under the philosophy that taboo words lost their maiming edge with repetition.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of maiming
Verb
  • On directions from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Miami-Dade County is disabling Flock cameras on the agency's infrastructure.
    — Sarah Perkel, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Users reported problems with Outlook, while OpenAI said users may experience problems starting or continuing tasks in ChatGPT Work, temporarily disabling two of the modern office's favorite methods of assigning more work.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of disabling
Verb
  • Importantly, all of this imaging was possible without damaging Scotty’s priceless fossils.
    — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 3 Sep. 2026
  • Smaller glass shards likely won’t cause symptoms, but bigger pieces with sharp edges run the risk of damaging the throat, stomach and intestines, according to the National Capital Poison Center.
    — Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of damaging
Verb
  • Investigators determined that Hollander had likely targeted the home with the intention of killing Esther.
    — Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 5 Sep. 2026
  • The jury could not reach a verdict in the murder trial of the Massachusetts mother who admitted to killing her three children.
    — Violet Jira, Washington Post, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of killing

Browse Nearby Words

mutilates
mutilating
mutilation
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Cite this Entry

“Mutilating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mutilating. Accessed 8 Sep. 2026.

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