CAUTERIZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cauterize mean? 

• CAUTERIZE (verb)
  The verb CAUTERIZE has 2 senses:

1. burn, sear, or freeze (tissue) using a hot iron or electric current or a caustic agent

2. make insensitive or callous; deaden feelings or morals

  Familiarity information: CAUTERIZE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CAUTERIZE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they cauterize    ... he / she / it cauterizes   
Past simple: cauterized   
Past participle: cauterized   
-ing form: cauterizing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Burn, sear, or freeze (tissue) using a hot iron or electric current or a caustic agent

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

burn; cauterise; cauterize

Context example:

The surgeon cauterized the wart

Hypernyms (to "cauterize" is one way to...):

care for; treat (provide treatment for)

burn (damage by burning with heat, fire, or radiation)

"Cauterize" entails doing...:

scorch; sear (make very hot and dry)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

cauterant (an instrument or substance used to destroy tissue for medical reasons (eg removal of a wart) by burning it with a hot iron or an electric current or a caustic or by freezing it)

cauterization; cautery (the act of coagulating blood and destroying tissue with a hot iron or caustic agent or by freezing)

cautery (an instrument or substance used to destroy tissue for medical reasons (eg removal of a wart) by burning it with a hot iron or an electric current or a caustic or by freezing it)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make insensitive or callous; deaden feelings or morals

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

callous; cauterise; cauterize

Hypernyms (to "cauterize" is one way to...):

harden; indurate; inure (cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody