How to Use lobotomy in a Sentence

lobotomy

noun
  • In the 1940s, lobotomies were all the rage.
    — Literary Hub, 28 Apr. 2026
  • After the lobotomy, Rosemary was no longer able to walk or talk.
    — Lyz Lenz, Marie Claire, 31 Mar. 2017
  • The lobotomy is a favorite, a swift blow with a hammer and ice pick straight through the eye socket.
    — Chris Vognar, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 2021
  • But this is not a story about the evils of lobotomy, except as a means to discuss something else.
    — Michael O'Sullivan, Twin Cities, 1 Aug. 2019
  • But there was no mention in the literature of predatory lobotomies.
    — Jason Bittel, Smithsonian, 4 Jan. 2017
  • Those between-scene lobotomies are doing a LOT of heavy lifting this season.
    — Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 12 Sep. 2024
  • Sister Sage asking the Deep to give her a lobotomy is one of the grossest scenes of the season so far.
    — Jordan Moreau, Variety, 20 June 2024
  • One such experiment is the lobotomy, as the new trailer suggests.
    — Lauren Huff, EW.com, 8 Sep. 2020
  • In her 20s, her father put her in an institution and she was given a lobotomy.
    — Abbey White, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Oct. 2024
  • Try electric shock therapy, drugs that render men impotent, or maybe even a lobotomy.
    — Jane M. Von Bergen, Philly.com, 1 Oct. 2017
  • To be in an asylum then was to be in a very overcrowded place where the treatments, even prior to the lobotomy, were often brutal.
    — Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 12 Aug. 2016
  • That’s all fine and dandy, but watching these two numbskulls, like Pinky and the Brain with lobotomies, try to take down Tamra is not fun.
    — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2025
  • And then, just like that, our glorious psychological lobotomy was wiped out.
    — Maria Panaritis, Philly.com, 8 Feb. 2018
  • By the 1930s, frontal lobotomy was emerging as a treatment for mental illness.
    — Katherine Foxhall, Smithsonian, 6 Mar. 2018
  • Turns out that the skull is a medical training device for spine and neurosurgeons, and can be used to instruct them on how to conduct a lobotomy.
    — CBS News, 30 Sep. 2023
  • Kirsten had died at age 24 while being treated for schizophrenia after having a lobotomy a year earlier.
    — Katie Hunt, CNN, 12 Nov. 2022
  • Occasionally, Richards said, one of them winds up getting a lobotomy and the voices don’t work anymore.
    — Marc Bona, cleveland, 1 Mar. 2021
  • Paranormal fans are also drawn by the history of a former mental institution that once performed lobotomies.
    — Chris Kenning, USA Today, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Bradley had suffered a severe head injury when his ship sank in the Pacific Ocean, and later had a partial lobotomy.
    — Brendan Farrington, orlandosentinel.com, 20 Aug. 2019
  • It’s sometimes shown as a punishment, or a means of control — right up there with the lobotomy as a medical practice best left in the unenlightened past.
    — Kate Golembiewski, Discover Magazine, 15 Dec. 2022
  • One crew member immediately runs afoul of a viral shaming campaign, for which the penalty of not getting enough upvotes is a lobotomy.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 29 Dec. 2018
  • Fantasizing about a lobotomy is a normal response to the last three years; believing that a $40 scented candle counts as self-care is not.
    — Emily Alford, Longreads, 23 Nov. 2022
  • Moniz later used a technique that severed neurons and led to the prefrontal lobotomy techniques of the1940s.
    — Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Nov. 2025
  • Along with his sullen young assistant, Fiennes visits the asylums of the West Coast performing lobotomies and electric shock therapy.
    — Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2019
  • The technique has been practiced since the 19th century, though older methods often subjected patients to more extreme measures like lobotomies and shock treatments.
    — Arianna Johnson, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024
  • Why does the narrator casually bring up her research about lobotomies and remark that the postoperative condition might closely resemble her own?
    — Literary Hub, 19 Nov. 2025
  • Rosemary had been an active member of the Kennedy family until her father agreed to a lobotomy for Rosemary in 1941.
    — Alice George, Smithsonian, 10 July 2018
  • As recently as the mid-20th century, doctors performed lobotomies on people deemed mentally ill, severing the connection between the thalamus and the frontal lobe.
    — Kristen Martin, Washington Post, 2 Aug. 2023
  • The world’s first transorbital lobotomy was performed in 1946 by Walter Freeman, in his Washington office.
    — Parul Sehgal, New York Times, 27 Feb. 2018
  • Back in 1962, Lilly leaves Juniper Hill with a higher dose of medication, which seems like the best-case scenario given the threat of lobotomy in the show’s opening titles.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lobotomy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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