Meaning & use

mangled

adjective·Academic

Badly damaged, crushed, or distorted, often through violent force.

See it in a sentence

The car's front end was mangled after skidding into the roadside guardrail.

The translator mangled the poem so badly that its original meaning was lost.

A note on using this word

Mangled can describe physical damage or a figurative mangling of words, text, or ideas through careless handling.

Words with a similar meaning

crusheddistortedmutilated

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

intactunharmed

Make it your own

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