amputate Hear it!

amputate Definition

am·pu·tate (am′pyo̵̅o̅ tāt′, -pyə-)

transitive verb, intransitive verb -·tat′ed, -·tat′·ing

to cut off (an arm, leg, etc.), esp. by surgery

Etymology: < L amputatus, pp. of amputare < am-, for ambi-, ambi- + putare, to trim, prune < IE *putos, part. form of base *peu-, to strike > pave

amputate Related Forms
am′·pu·ta′·tion noun am′·pu·ta′·tor noun
amputate Synonyms

amputate

v.

cut off, sever, operate on, eliminate, cut away, separate, excise, dismember, remove, lop off, truncate.

amputate Usage Examples

Object

  • limb: Do make sure you sit with a good posture to keep a good blood flow to the amputated limb.
  • toe: During the next five months Lewis had to amputate the frostbitten toes of several men in his party.
  • arm: One victim had to have her arms amputated at the elbow.
  • foot: He broke his ankle very badly, and it was thought he would have to have his foot amputated.
  • hand: Men just get their hands amputated for similar offenses.
  • year: Two thousand arms and legs are amputated every year in the UK as a direct result of smoking.

Preposition: above

  • knee: However, her leg had to be amputated above the knee to have a clean surface for healing.

Preposition: in

  • hospital: A letter from him later put the record straight, saying he'd had his leg amputated in a hospital in Bulgaria.

Adjective complement

  • due: FACT: 2000 people a year have to have a limb amputated due to the effects of smoking.

Modifying Another Word

  • partially: As a result of my body attacking itself seven fingers were partially amputated in 2000.
  • just: The condition worsened until February 1910 when his left arm was amputated just below the elbow.
  • successfully: Jackson's left arm was successfully amputated but he developed pneumonia and he died at Guinea Station on 10th May, 1863.
  • then: He fell inside the machine and triggered a sensor which automatically started the machinery, which then amputated his legs.
  • subsequently: She suffered extreme frost bite in both feet which were subsequently amputated.
  • eventually: Her right leg was badly affected and eventually amputated.

Preposition: after

  • blunder: Alexander Harris Solicitors Home » News » Patient with burnt toe has to have leg amputated after hospital blunders Jump to navigation.

Infinitive complement

  • prevent: A broken limb needed to be amputated immediately to prevent the onset of gangrene.

Preposition: below

  • knee: Mr Heathcote is a man of 69 years whose left leg was amputated below the knee in 1991.
  • elbow: The condition worsened until February 1910 when his left arm was amputated just below the elbow.
amputate Quotes

How right it seemed that he should reach the span Of comfortable years allowed to man! Splendid to eat and sleep and choose a wife, Safe with his wound, a citizen of life. He hobbled blithely through the garden gate, And thought: 'Thank God they had to amputate!'

—Sassoon, Siegfried Louvain