as in to undermine
to deprive of emotional or intellectual vitality
fear of saying anything controversial has so lobotomized this book on geopolitics that it fails to say anything at all
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Recent Examples of lobotomize
According to the film’s psychiatric adviser, Professor James Gilligan, however, who spoke to The Guardian in 2010, Andrew was aware of his actions when he was ordered to be lobotomized.
—
Nicole Briese, People.com, 19 Feb. 2025
Quinn also needed to lobotomize the football culture and get players to buy into his team-over-me standard.
—Ben Standig, The Athletic, 27 Dec. 2024
And to do so without fear of being incarcerated, lobotomized, rejected by our families or fired.
—Muri Assunção, New York Daily News, 29 June 2024
Violet has had Catherine committed, and is advocating for her to be lobotomized by young surgeon John Cukrowicz (gay Hollywood legend Montgomery Clift) in a veiled attempt to keep their past with Sebastian a secret.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 17 June 2024
It’s just absolutely been lobotomized into something that sounds like Wikipedia, essentially.
—Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Aug. 2023
For someone who witnessed the Obama-era phenomenon of Low End Theory, the place seemed lobotomized.
—Jeff Weiss, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2023
To lobotomize their ability to access and express the full range of human experience back to consenting adults seems not just puritanical, but a fool’s errand.
—Tabi Jensen, WIRED, 9 Mar. 2023
This attracted all kinds of attention to it, so of course MS lobotomized her.
—Benj Edwards, Ars Technica, 17 Feb. 2023
Nicole Briese, People.com, 19 Feb. 2025
Quinn also needed to lobotomize the football culture and get players to buy into his team-over-me standard.
—Ben Standig, The Athletic, 27 Dec. 2024
And to do so without fear of being incarcerated, lobotomized, rejected by our families or fired.
—Muri Assunção, New York Daily News, 29 June 2024
Violet has had Catherine committed, and is advocating for her to be lobotomized by young surgeon John Cukrowicz (gay Hollywood legend Montgomery Clift) in a veiled attempt to keep their past with Sebastian a secret.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 17 June 2024
It’s just absolutely been lobotomized into something that sounds like Wikipedia, essentially.
—Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Aug. 2023
For someone who witnessed the Obama-era phenomenon of Low End Theory, the place seemed lobotomized.
—Jeff Weiss, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2023
To lobotomize their ability to access and express the full range of human experience back to consenting adults seems not just puritanical, but a fool’s errand.
—Tabi Jensen, WIRED, 9 Mar. 2023
This attracted all kinds of attention to it, so of course MS lobotomized her.
—Benj Edwards, Ars Technica, 17 Feb. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lobotomize
Verb
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There are eight issues that have begun to undermine the stock market's shaky support.—
John S. Tobey,
Forbes,
1 Mar. 2025
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Privatizing, politicizing, and undermining the integrity and credibility of this agency, which has served the country effectively for half a century, would be a disaster, and a danger to all of us.—
Dan Perry,
Newsweek,
28 Feb. 2025
Verb
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The first is a li’l pony that has to be chloroformed so Siegfried can castrate it.—
Alice Burton,
Vulture,
16 Feb. 2025
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Pain is the most obvious example: A horse that has just been castrated or a limping sheep with smelly, reddish footrot is undoubtedly feeling pain.—
science.org,
science.org,
13 Feb. 2025
Verb
-
In the fourth quarter of 2024, WK Kellogg reported net sales of $640 million, a decrease of 1.7% compared to $651 million in the same period in 2023, impacted by a 5.6% volume decline and a 40 basis point headwind from the weakening Canadian dollar.—
Joe Cornell,
Forbes,
27 Feb. 2025
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But the Trump administration's new cuts further weaken a banking watchdog that has been sounding the alarm for years about its decreasing ability to prevent future banking crises.—
Maria Aspan,
NPR,
27 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Fudd then drained her first 3-pointer after an 0-for-2 start, and Strong followed her up with four straight points off another pair of Marquette turnovers.—
Emily Adams,
Hartford Courant,
2 Mar. 2025
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That fall and winter, constant power outages and air-raid alerts left them drained and on edge.—
Michael Holtz,
The New Yorker,
28 Feb. 2025
Verb
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But by 2011, they were exhausted by seven solid years of touring and recording.—
Andy Greene,
Rolling Stone,
1 Mar. 2025
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In this fractured reality, audiences may be exhausted but every human still needs truth, for stories that inspire, for narratives that unite through identification rather than division.—
Bing Chen,
TIME,
28 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Lobotomize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lobotomize. Accessed 6 Mar. 2025.
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