mutilation

noun/mjuːtɪˈleɪʃən/

Frequency rank: #10,972 most common English word

Meaning

the act of severely damaging or disfiguring a body or object by cutting or destroying parts of it.

Illustration for the English word “mutilation”

Example sentence

The ancient ruins showed signs of deliberate mutilation on many of the carved stone figures.

Synonyms & related words

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