mutilate

English

Etymology

From Latin mutilatus, the past participle of mutilo (“to mutilate”), itself from mutilus (“maimed”).

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /ˈmjuː.tɪˌleɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (adjective) IPA^(key): /ˈmjuː.tɪ.lət/, /ˈmjuː.tɪ.lɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

mutilate (third-person singular simple present mutilates, present participle mutilating, simple past and past participle mutilated)

1. To physically harm as to impair use, notably by cutting off or otherwise disabling a vital part, such as a limb.

   mutilated currency

2. To destroy beyond recognition.
3. (figuratively) To render imperfect or defective.
   • 1862, George Long (translation of Marcus Aurelius), Meditations, Book V:

     For two reasons then it is right to be content with that which happens to thee; the one, because it was done for thee and prescribed for thee, and in a manner had reference to thee, originally from the most ancient causes spun with thy destiny; and the other, because even that which comes severally to every man is to the power which administers the universe a cause of felicity and perfection, nay even of its very continuance. For the integrity of the whole is mutilated, if thou cuttest off anything whatever from the conjunction and the continuity either of the parts or of the causes. And thou dost cut off, as far as it is in thy power, when thou art dissatisfied, and in a manner triest to put anything out of the way.

Synonyms

• maim
• mangle

Derived terms

• genitally mutilate
• mutilation
• mutilative
• mutilator

Translations

To physically harm as to impair use

• Arabic: شَوِهَ (šawiha), بَتَرَ (ar) (batara), جَذَعَ (jaḏaʕa), جَدَعَ (ar) (jadaʕa)
• Bulgarian: осакатявам (bg) (osakatjavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 殘害ざんがい／残害ざんがい (zh) (cánhài), 殘ざん毀／残ざん毁 (zh) (cánhuǐ)

• Danish: lemlæste
• Dutch: verminken (nl)
• Estonian: moonutama
• Finnish: pahoinpidellä (fi), runnella (fi)
• French: mutiler (fr)
• Galician: mutilar (gl)
• German: verstümmeln (de), verschandeln (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: κολοβόω (kolobóō)

• Japanese: 切断せつだんする (ja) (setsudan suru), ばらばらにする (ja) (barabara ni suru), 不具ふぐにする (ja) (fugu ni suru)
• Latin: discerpō
• Macedonian: осакатува (osakatuva)
• Old English: hamelian
• Old French: desmembrer
• Portuguese: mutilar (pt)
• Romanian: mutila (ro), schilodi (ro)
• Russian: уве́чить (ru) impf (uvéčitʹ), кале́чить (ru) impf (kaléčitʹ), уро́довать (ru) impf (uródovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сакатити, sakatiti (sh)

  Latin: sakatiti (sh)

• Spanish: mutilar (es)
• Swedish: stympa (sv)

To destroy beyond recognition

• Bulgarian: повреждам (bg) (povreždam)
• Dutch: verminken (nl), verhakkelen (nl)
• Finnish: ruhjoa (fi), runnella (fi), silpoa
• Irish: loit
• Latin: lacerō
• Macedonian: обезличува (obezličuva)
• Romanian: devasta (ro)
• Spanish: mutilar (es)

To render imperfect or defective

• Dutch: verminken (nl)
• Finnish: turmella (fi), tärvellä (fi)
• Japanese: 骨抜ほねぬきにする (honenuki ni suru)
• Macedonian: оштетува (oštetuva)
• Romanian: mutila (ro)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} mutiler (fr)

Adjective

mutilate (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Deprived of, or having lost, an important part; mutilated.
   • 1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “(please specify the page)”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th edition, London: […] E. Cotes for Andrew Crook […], published 1656, →OCLC:

     mutilate and semi-bodies

2. (zoology) Having fin-like appendages or flukes instead of legs, as a cetacean does.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “mutilate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Alternative forms

• mut. (abbreviation)

See also

• amputate, amputation
• castrate, castration
• circumcise, circumcision

Anagrams

• ultimate

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

mutilate

1. inflection of mutilare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

mutilate f pl

1. feminine plural of mutilato

Anagrams

• multiate, ultimate

Latin

Verb

mutilāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of mutilō

Spanish

Verb

mutilate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of mutilar combined with te