MUTILATING Synonyms: 80 Similar and Opposite Words

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

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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

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

Some people with severe cases – with a high fever or incapacitating diarrhea that is bloody – may need to get care at a hospital.

— Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 6 Aug. 2026
The driver hits Leatherface in the head with a wrench, incapacitating him long enough for the driver to run away and Sally to jump into the cab of a passing pickup truck.

— Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 July 2026

Definition of incapacitating

Verb

In 2021, a teen was arrested after wounding two students and injuring two others in a shooting at a high school in Newport News, Virginia.

— Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 24 Aug. 2026
After the boat returned to shore, an airstrike followed, killing four men and wounding two others, the official said.

— ABC News, ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of wounding

Verb

Scott Quigley, then embedded with the Middlesex DA’s office, crashed his cruiser into a wheelchair van in December 2023, injuring a man inside who died at the hospital a month later.

— Boston Herald editorial staff, Boston Herald, 25 Aug. 2026
In 2021, a teen was arrested after wounding two students and injuring two others in a shooting at a high school in Newport News, Virginia.

— Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 24 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

The strikes hit 12 locations across Kyiv’s Darnytskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts, damaging residential buildings, a medical facility and an educational institution.

— ABC News, ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026
Oracle, for its part, argues that Project Jupiter will create massive investment for the region without damaging the environment.

— Bloomberg, Mercury News, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of damaging

Verb

Such attacks are common in Nigeria, where multiple armed groups operate, killing and kidnapping people for ransom.

— ABC News, ABC News, 22 Aug. 2026
Plane crash in Alaska A charter plane carrying eight people crashed near a remote radar site in western Alaska, killing everyone on board.

— Irene Byon, NBC news, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of killing

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“Mutilating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mutilating. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of mutilating

verb

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