mangled

adjective

man·​gled ˈmaŋ-gəld How to pronounce mangled (audio)
1
: severely injured or damaged by cutting, tearing, or crushing
a mangled foot
A special bed—a box lined with cottonwool—was made for the mangled pigeon while the Wilsons nursed it …Iain Macdonald
mangled warplanes lie strewn across the desert floor, their wings and tails torn off, their fuselages punctured.Richard Wolkomir
2
: spoiled or made incoherent
a mangled message
mangled punctuation/syntax
This is a draft manuscript waiting for an editor to impose coherence and to smooth over mangled grammar, malapropisms and political oversimplifications.Emily MacFarquhar

Examples of mangled in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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.
On the snowy sidewalk of a drab residential street in Moscow, blood, soot and the mangled remnants of an electric scooter marked the spot where a top Russian general was assassinated — and signaled a potentially dangerous new phase of the war in Ukraine. Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 17 Dec. 2024 The mangled front part of the car is wrapped around the tree while the back half is on the road about 30 feet away. Michael Dorgan, Fox News, 10 Dec. 2024 The individual who eventually reported the crash managed to self-extricate from the mangled car and leave the scene in another vehicle — but did not call 911 that night, the Fire Department said. Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 3 Dec. 2024 According to Bowers while speaking to local Fox affiliate KTVU, a bystander had gotten out of his car and pulled the surviving occupant out from the mangled vehicle. Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for mangled 

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of mangled was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near mangled

Cite this Entry

“Mangled.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mangled. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!