1
as in slaughtered
to kill on a large scale
the barbarians butchered the monks in the monasteries without mercy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in fumbled
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way
the new piano student butchered the sonatina
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of butchered
At the time that the cut was identified, researchers proposed that the mark proved that First Peoples butchered ancient megafauna.
—
Mindy Weisberger, CNN Money, 27 Oct. 2025
Bad books have been made into great movies, and many great books have been butchered on the screen.
—Susan Orlean, New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2025
Multiple other locations in central Italy have butchered elephant remains, small stone tools, and larger modified bones.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 8 Oct. 2025
Reese tried that one, too, but butchered it when his lean came well into the end zone.
—Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Sep. 2025
That is to say, more chickens are bred and butchered each year than there are alive at this very moment in time.
—Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Criticism rained down on the city from animal rights groups and residents fearful of seeing animals being sloppily butchered in broad daylight in their neighbor’s yard.
—John Carlisle, Freep.com, 31 May 2025
Mindy Weisberger, CNN Money, 27 Oct. 2025
Bad books have been made into great movies, and many great books have been butchered on the screen.
—Susan Orlean, New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2025
Multiple other locations in central Italy have butchered elephant remains, small stone tools, and larger modified bones.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 8 Oct. 2025
Reese tried that one, too, but butchered it when his lean came well into the end zone.
—Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Sep. 2025
That is to say, more chickens are bred and butchered each year than there are alive at this very moment in time.
—Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Criticism rained down on the city from animal rights groups and residents fearful of seeing animals being sloppily butchered in broad daylight in their neighbor’s yard.
—John Carlisle, Freep.com, 31 May 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for butchered
Verb
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Giving up 1,700 terrorist hostages from Israel, basically create a potential pathway to statehood, because of an invasion two years ago that slaughtered Israelis, there's a lot here that still has to play out.—
NBC news,
NBC news,
5 Oct. 2025
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In 2022, producers slaughtered more beef cows than ever before in the USDA recordkeeping.—
Brittney Melton,
NPR,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Onana then fumbled a low cross from the right by Yasin Ayari, with the ball falling to the feet of Georginio Rutter.—
Laurie Whitwell,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
-
Last season, Daniels fumbled the ball twice in the last five minutes.—
Shreyas Laddha,
Kansas City Star,
21 Oct. 2025
Verb
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After the final whistle blew at Memorial Stadium, Kiffin made some headlines for his postgame behavior toward an Oklahoma player.—
Matt Audilet,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 Oct. 2025
-
But as the team was celebrating, the officials on the field blew the play dead and gave Philadelphia the first down.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
26 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Another legend explains how in the distant past, the nefarious Lake Nyos was formed from the decomposing body of a Kom chief whose people had been tricked and murdered by the Bamessi tribe.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Oct. 2025
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State social studies standards for years have included discussion of how white Tulsans murdered as many as 300 Black people.—
Jennifer Smith Richards,
ProPublica,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Some are clearly ironic, but the line between blind devotion and mocking derision is seriously mangled.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
24 Oct. 2025
-
The Ed Gein Story jumps around in time, in part to make connections to the other adaptations and in part because the biographical chronology is so mangled that any distraction is welcome.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Sep. 2019
Verb
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The new longer-range variant – dubbed the UMPB-5 – has already been used in strikes against Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine in recent days.—
Tim Lister,
CNN Money,
25 Oct. 2025
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On a limestone monument dubbed Foundation Rock, archaeologists have identified a powerful and extremely rare Maya queen who ruled Cobá in the sixth century AD.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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No, baseball was not yet ruined.—
Andy McCullough,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
-
There is even Depardieu’s own late son, Guillaume, whose death at age thirty-seven was hastened along by heroin use that had ruined his health, and over whom Ferrara recalls Depardieu shedding copious tears during one of their early meetings.—
Nick Pinkerton,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Herodotus reasoned that had Helen in fact been within the walls of Troy instead of in Egypt, the Trojans would surely have surrendered her to the Greeks rather than allow their city to be destroyed.—
Elizabeth D. Samet,
Foreign Affairs,
29 Oct. 2025
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Your homes may have been damaged or destroyed and your communities and towns no longer look the same.—
Abigail Adams,
PEOPLE,
29 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Butchered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/butchered. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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