amputate

Word family

• amputation
  nounB2
• amputee
  nounB2
• amputated
  adjectiveB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Amputate, sever, cut off, and remove all describe separating a body part from the whole, but they differ in setting and tone. Amputate is the technical medical term: it always describes a surgical procedure done by a doctor, usually to save a patient's life or prevent infection. Sever is more dramatic and often violent — a hand can be severed in an explosion, but a surgeon does not 'sever' a leg in the operating room. Cut off is the everyday, informal equivalent: 'He cut off the tip of his finger while chopping onions' sounds natural, but 'The surgeon cut off his leg' sounds too casual for a medical context. Remove is the broadest term and can be used in any register, but it is too vague when a precise medical meaning is needed. Use amputate when the situation calls for clinical precision — for example, when describing a hospital procedure, a surgeon's decision, or a patient's recovery.

Common collocations

Etymology

Amputate comes from the Latin verb amputare, formed from am- (a variant of ambi-, meaning 'around') and putare (meaning 'to prune, to cut or clean'). In Latin it originally referred to pruning branches or vines. English borrowed it in the early 1600s as a medical term for cutting off a limb, keeping the idea of a deliberate, clean removal to protect the rest of the body.