How to Use mutilate in a Sentence

mutilate

verb
  • She’d been strangled, her left breast sliced away and her body mutilated by cuts.
    — Kristina Davis, sandiegouniontribune.com, 26 May 2017
  • One mother’s body was found charred, tied, dragged to a boat and mutilated.
    — New York Times, 8 Aug. 2019
  • The genitals of some men who had been killed were mutilated as well.
    — Anna Schecter, NBC News, 5 Dec. 2023
  • All of the victims had been ambushed and mutilated; many had their throats ripped out.
    — Carrie Arnold, Scientific American, 29 Mar. 2020
  • Be kind to the trees, and refrain from setting up hammocks here, which can mutilate the trees’ bark.
    — Jill K. Robinson, Condé Nast Traveler, 27 Mar. 2023
  • She was found naked and bound, with her genitalia mutilated.
    — Audrey Abrahams, NBC news, 1 Feb. 2026
  • In the process, the team had mutilated her neck with syringes in attempts to draw blood samples.
    — Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2019
  • In the latter case, police suggest the body may have been mutilated by wildlife.
    — Chris Harris, PEOPLE.com, 4 Dec. 2019
  • But things take a huge turn when their friend Jenny is found mutilated in the middle of the woods.
    — Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 14 Feb. 2025
  • The agents watch teenagers self-mutilating and girls recounting rape.
    — Katrin Bennhold, New York Times, 19 May 2018
  • Their bodies were mutilated and burned and others were thrown into the sea.
    — Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 30 Apr. 2025
  • He's seen colleagues mutilated, their hands and arms cut, their eyes plucked out for failing to pay these armed groups their share.
    — Vasco Cotovio, CNN, 20 Aug. 2019
  • Their bodies were mutilated and burned, and others were thrown into the sea.
    — Azhar Fateh, Fox News, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Their bodies were mutilated and burned, and others were thrown into the sea.
    — Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Deputies said the animals were tortured, mutilated, kept in coops with dead birds and live plucked.
    — Timia Cobb, Dallas Morning News, 7 Apr. 2026
  • Most victims were poisoned and mutilated, with their heads, paws, and other parts cut off.
    — Laurel Neme, National Geographic, 19 Oct. 2017
  • Some of the victims were bound to trees with their genitals mutilated.
    — Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 2026
  • He’d been shot and mutilated in a manner that a cousin said reminded her of a horror movie.
    — Brittany Morris, NBC News, 26 Jan. 2024
  • Becnel also held a knife to a dog and threatened to mutilate it, the report stated.
    — David K. Li, NBC News, 15 Jan. 2020
  • Four of the murdered were mutilated.
    — Emily Blackwood, PEOPLE, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Ukrainian towns are filled with countless people who have been disabled and mutilated by the war.
    — Olivier Kempf, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
  • Her body was found in the sea, mutilated, almost 12 days later.
    — Michelle Iracheta, Houston Chronicle, 3 Apr. 2018
  • She had been beheaded, her head nowhere to be seen, and mutilated, her body almost severed in two.
    — Lane Sainty, The Arizona Republic, 11 Apr. 2023
  • The lower half of his body was mutilated, the driver’s door ripped open, and the reporter lay waiting for help.
    — Amanda Luberto, The Arizona Republic, 21 Aug. 2023
  • Her left ring and pinky fingers also appeared to be mutilated, the report states.
    — Nicole Acosta, PEOPLE, 23 Apr. 2026
  • He was so mutilated in the blast that his family was permitted to see him only from the knees down as a farewell.
    — Alex Traub, BostonGlobe.com, 10 June 2023
  • Her body had been mutilated and cut in half with surgical precision.
    — Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 15 Jan. 2026
  • The pitching staff has been folded, spindled and mutilated but keeps on trucking.
    — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 9 May 2026
  • Russia has pummeled the city for more than seven months, reducing it to a charred and mutilated ghost town.
    — Claire Parker, Washington Post, 3 Mar. 2023
  • The killers dragged Rotberg’s body to the other side of the border, where it was found mutilated, its eyes poked out.
    — Aluf Benn, Foreign Affairs, 7 Feb. 2024

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

Last Updated: