lacerating 1 of 2

adjective

as in piercing

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lacerating

2 of 2

verb

present participle of lacerate
as in bruising
to cut (someone's flesh) deeply or roughly The broken glass lacerated his feet. The patient's hand was severely lacerated.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of lacerating
Adjective
Her diaries, two volumes of which have been published, reveal a wonderful writer, lyrical and self-lacerating. — Anahid Nersessian, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025 The same could be said for Howe’s lacerating self-flagellation afterwards. — George Caulkin, New York Times, 8 Feb. 2026 Irrational violence and lyric visions erupt in lacerating, supremely elegant prose that’s also genuinely funny at times. — Jon Raymond august 5, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2025 His desperate, lacerating Teddy is a character who has ruined his own life, who has martyred himself out of his devotion to The Truth. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 28 Aug. 2025 Mulligan delivers lacerating fragility, while Isaac turns Josh’s accommodating nature into a pathology, but both characters are littered with backstory details that Beef leaves hanging. — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 16 Apr. 2026 Yet this stark, lacerating comedy-drama, set in a seaside Long Island that recalls Woody Allen’s Interiors, is admirable in its uncompromising look at the havoc a long-term sibling rivalry can create for everyone within the blast radius. — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2025 Australian playwright Tony McNamara has turned his side hustle as a screenwriter into a blessing for Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things, The Favourite), and viewers of The Great, his bawdy historical farce for Hulu, can attest to his love of layered, lacerating insults. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 27 Aug. 2025 According to the Daily Mail, Rebecca Loos, David Beckham’s former personal assistant, had a few things to say about the long-simmering family drama, which exploded into public view Monday after 26-year-old Brooklyn Beckham posted a lacerating take-down of his parents on Instagram. — Martha Ross, Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2026
Verb
In the last year, Huston has broken his eye socket — twice — and his jaw, as well as lacerating his kidney, per posts on his social media. — Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 28 June 2026 The songs are at times over-the-top, at others lacerating in their introspection about everything from the anxiety of aging to the anguished choice to terminate a pregnancy. — Adam Bradley Luis Alberto Rodriguez Carlos Nazario, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025 That biography took the form of a dark romance between the self-lacerating Louis and his fiercely loving but brutal maker, Lestat, filtered through the former’s brooding subjectivity. — Judy Berman, Time, 2 June 2026 The industry’s issues have come up in debates and on the campaign trail, certainly, but perhaps not so much as challenger (and ex-reality TV villain) Spencer Pratt’s lacerating AI videos about Bass’ role in last year’s devastating Pacific Palisades fires. — David Bloom, Forbes.com, 25 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lacerating
  1. piercing
  2. wounding
  3. jagged
Adjective
  • Still, the glimpses of freedom Clark offers are all the more piercing for their rarity.
    — Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 21 Apr. 2026
  • The ping of pickleball play produces a uniquely piercing and repetitive sound that has led to contentious lawsuits and controversies across the entire country, including just north in Fox Point, as the sport has rapidly grown in popularity over the last few years.
    — Claudia Levens, jsonline.com, 3 Mar. 2026
Definition of piercing
Verb
  • In Brooklyn, New York’s Coney Island neighborhood, a man in a black ski mask opened fire on a family barbecue late Saturday night, wounding at least eight people, including four children.
    — Marlene Lenthang, NBC news, 5 July 2026
  • Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, were found guilty by a jury last month of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 July 2026
Definition of wounding
Adjective
  • The slightest details, or the smallest bits of structure, are what stick out—what can feel like an amorphous ooze of nothingness suddenly snaps into place thanks to a rhythmic rattle or jagged vocal sample.
    — Andrew Ryce, Pitchfork, 6 July 2026
  • Look at the jagged lines, the geometric shapes, the neon colour schemes, the tall collars, the billowing short sleeves.
    — Jack Lang, New York Times, 5 July 2026
Definition of jagged

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lacerates
lacerating
laceration
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Cite this Entry

“Lacerating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lacerating. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on lacerating

Nglish: Translation of lacerating for Spanish Speakers

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