LACERATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lacerate mean? 

• LACERATE (adjective)
  The adjective LACERATE has 2 senses:

1. irregularly slashed and jagged as if torn

2. having edges that are jagged from injury

  Familiarity information: LACERATE used as an adjective is rare.

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

1. cut or tear irregularly

2. deeply hurt the feelings of; distress

  Familiarity information: LACERATE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LACERATE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Irregularly slashed and jagged as if torn

Synonyms:

lacerate; lacerated

Context example:

lacerate leaves

Similar:

rough (of the margin of a leaf shape; having the edge cut or fringed or scalloped)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having edges that are jagged from injury

Synonyms:

lacerate; lacerated; mangled; torn

Similar:

injured (harmed)

• LACERATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lacerate    ... he / she / it lacerates   
Past simple: lacerated   
Past participle: lacerated   
-ing form: lacerating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cut or tear irregularly

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

bust; rupture; snap; tear (separate or cause to separate abruptly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

laceration (the act of lacerating)

laceration (a torn ragged wound)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Deeply hurt the feelings of; distress

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Context example:

his lacerating remarks

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

bruise; hurt; injure; offend; spite; wound (hurt the feelings of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

laceration (the act of lacerating)

 Context examples 

But the man had waited long, and the lacerated hand closed on the jaw.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The kidnapper undid the bloody wrappings and looked at his lacerated hand.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Then the calf of his leg was badly lacerated and looked as though it had been mangled by a bulldog.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I softened considerably what related to the three days of wandering and starvation, because to have told him all would have been to inflict unnecessary pain: the little I did say lacerated his faithful heart deeper than I wished.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Being but partly grown his jaws had not yet become large enough nor strong enough to make his throat-attack deadly; but many a young dog went around camp with a lacerated throat in token of White Fang's intention.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Her training warned her of peril and of wrong, subtle, mysterious, luring; while her instincts rang clarion-voiced through her being, impelling her to hurdle caste and place and gain to this traveller from another world, to this uncouth young fellow with lacerated hands and a line of raw red caused by the unaccustomed linen at his throat, who, all too evidently, was soiled and tainted by ungracious existence.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She was repelled by those lacerated hands, grimed by toil so that the very dirt of life was ingrained in the flesh itself, by that red chafe of the collar and those bulging muscles.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)