disembowel
verb
dis·em·bow·el
ˌdis-əm-ˈbau̇(-ə)l 
disemboweled; disemboweling; disembowels
1
: to take out the bowels of : eviscerate
also
: to slash or tear the abdomen so that some or all of the internal organs protrude
2
: to remove the substance of
a program disemboweled by spending cuts
Examples of disembowel in a Sentence
The fierce cat uses its claws to disembowel its prey.
ancient Roman prophets would disembowel animals in order to read the future from their entrails
Recent Examples on the Web
If disembowelling a federal agency does somehow lead to higher reading and math scores, the federal workers who would have tracked this progress won’t be around to tell us about it.
—
Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2025
You might be left out in the open air to live on in the form of the vultures that disembowel you, or, like the Tollund Man, you could be submitted to a peat bog upon your death so that your bones dissolve in the acidic environment while your skin remains perfectly preserved.
—Cutter Wood, Harper's Magazine, 28 Feb. 2025
Analyzing the legendary unicorn tapestries hanging at the Met Cloisters in New York (augmented here by a gory new panel that depicts the suddenly fearsome animals disemboweling and impaling their aggressors), Ridley concludes that unicorns aren’t nearly as benevolent as most people think.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 9 Mar. 2025
The man’s fears are realized when the monkey suddenly begins banging his drum, with a Rube Goldberg-style series of events causing the proprietor to get graphically disemboweled.
—Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for disembowel
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Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2025
You might be left out in the open air to live on in the form of the vultures that disembowel you, or, like the Tollund Man, you could be submitted to a peat bog upon your death so that your bones dissolve in the acidic environment while your skin remains perfectly preserved.
—Cutter Wood, Harper's Magazine, 28 Feb. 2025
Analyzing the legendary unicorn tapestries hanging at the Met Cloisters in New York (augmented here by a gory new panel that depicts the suddenly fearsome animals disemboweling and impaling their aggressors), Ridley concludes that unicorns aren’t nearly as benevolent as most people think.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 9 Mar. 2025
The man’s fears are realized when the monkey suddenly begins banging his drum, with a Rube Goldberg-style series of events causing the proprietor to get graphically disemboweled.
—Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for disembowel
Cite this Entry
“Disembowel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disembowel. Accessed 4 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
disembowel
verb
dis·em·bow·el
ˌdis-əm-ˈbau̇(-ə)l
disemboweled or disembowelled; disemboweling or disembowelling
: to take out the bowels of
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