Meaning & use
disemboweled
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“disemboweled” is a form of “disembowel”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive
Having had the stomach and intestines taken out, usually by cutting the belly open; the past form of disembowel.
Grammar: Needs an object or is passive: the hunter disemboweled the deer; the deer was disemboweled.
Patterns
- disembowel something
- be disemboweled by something
The guide showed us how he had disemboweled the rabbit before skinning it.
In the medieval punishment described in the chronicle, the traitor was hanged and then disemboweled.
The horror film begins with a farmer discovering a disemboweled sheep in the field.
verbtransitivefigurative
Having had the most important or powerful parts removed, so that little of real value is left.
Grammar: Figurative use with things like laws or organizations: amendments disemboweled the bill.
Patterns
- disembowel a bill
- be disemboweled by something
Critics said the final law had been disemboweled by so many compromises that it changed nothing.
After the budget cuts, the department was so thoroughly disemboweled that it could no longer do its job.
Word forms
| third person singular | disembowels |
|---|---|
| past tense | disemboweled |
| past participle | disemboweled |
| -ing form | disemboweling |
Common combinations
- disemboweled a deer
- He disemboweled the deer at the edge of the forest to keep the meat fresh.
- was publicly disemboweled
- According to the old record, the prisoner was publicly disemboweled in the market square.
- found disemboweled
- Police found the carcass disemboweled near the road, probably by scavengers.
- disemboweled the bill
- Lobbyists disemboweled the bill before it ever reached a vote.
- brutally disemboweled
- The novel opens with a brutally disemboweled victim, which warns readers what to expect.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gut
- Gut is the everyday verb for cleaning fish or game and is much less shocking than disembowel.
- eviscerate
- Eviscerate means the same thing but is more formal and is also very common in the figurative sense of destroying an argument.
- draw
- Draw is a cooking and historical term for removing the insides of a bird or fish, and sounds technical rather than violent.
Word family
- disembowel verb
- the base verb meaning to remove the bowels or insides
- disembowelment noun
- the act of disemboweling
- bowel noun
- the intestine
Commonly confused: disemboweled or dismembered?
disemboweled vs dismembered
Dismembered means that arms, legs or other parts were cut off the body, whereas disemboweled refers specifically to the insides of the belly.
Practice
Which sentence uses disemboweled in its figurative sense?
Choose one answer.
Only the proposal sentence uses the word figuratively, meaning that its important content was removed. The other three describe actual removal of internal organs.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “disemboweled”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.