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Glite Dictionary
💤 To weaken ability 🧠 To remove brain part
to lobotomize

to lobotomize

2 9.8
To remove or damage part of the brain by surgery to treat mental illness
  • verb
  • /ləˈbɑtəˌmaɪz/
  • Archaic
translation icon : lobotomizar
  • Williams, you lobotomized him.
  • got himself lobotomized

Examples

  • They took this poor guy, lobotomized him, tortured him, did experiments, some sick, sick stuff.

    Greystone Park (2012)

  • Your father's been lobotomized.

    Re-Animator (1985)

  • Well, before you lobotomize him, I'd like to ask him a few questions.

    The Predator (2018)

  • What about the guy you lobotomized...

    Fiction book (1990)

  • You should've lobotomized him last night.

    Tammy and the T-Rex (1994)

  • Like I said, I honestly think I would have to be lobotomized to go on living if anything like this ever happened to one of my kids.

    Blog text (11)

  • He began to try out his tests in psychiatric hospitals on lobotomized patients.

    The Oxford Murders (2008)

  • You'll be lobotomized.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • She looked at Vanderhorst in horror and said, "That's what they used to call lobotomized social offenders!"

    Fiction book (1997)

  • In an attempt to treat her severe depression, the doctors decided to lobotomize her to alleviate her mental suffering.

Antonyms

to heal
481 1.2

To become healthy again after an injury, illness, or emotional pain

Phrasal Verbs

to lobotomize creativity
  • Informal
9.9

To stop someone from thinking of new ideas

How Invasive

to lobotomize
  • Archaic
2 9.8
to medicate
30 5.1

Surface Forms

lobotomize infinitive
lobotomized past
lobotomized past participle
lobotomizing present participle
lobotomizes third person singular

Morphology

lobotomize = lobotomy (transparent) = lobotomy + ize

The verb is a straightforward verbalization of the medical noun 'lobotomy' using the productive suffix '-ize', so the action meaning is directly derived.

Etymology

Lobotomize comes from lobe meaning 'a part of the brain', the Greek root -tomy meaning 'to cut', and the English ending -ize meaning 'to make'. So to lobotomize originally meant to 'cut a brain lobe', which explains the medical operation that removes or damages part of the brain.