to undergo a lobotomy

9.9

Have an operation that cuts parts of the brain to treat severe mental illness

phrasal verb
/ˌʌndərˈɡoʊ ə ləˈbɑːtəmi/

Archaic

: someterse a una lobotomía

He was so desperate to change his life that he chose to undergo a lobotomy, despite the risks involved.

Examples

After battling severe depression for years, she decided to undergo a lobotomy in hopes of finding relief.
During a period of three months, he'd gone from someone who had always planned his career at Harvard to a deli boy who appeared to have undergone a lobotomy.

Fiction book (2000)
In the 1960s, many patients were encouraged to undergo a lobotomy as a controversial treatment for mental disorders.

Surface Forms

undergo a lobotomy infinitive

undergoing a lobotomy present participle

undergoes a lobotomy third person singular

underwent a lobotomy past

undergone a lobotomy past participle

Morphology

undergo + a + lobotomy

The meaning 'to have a surgical lobotomy' is directly derivable from combining 'undergo' (to experience/receive) with 'lobotomy' (a surgical operation to sever brain pathways). This follows the common pattern 'undergo + medical procedure' that is compositional and cross-linguistically familiar, so a learner who knows the constituents would understand the MWE.

Etymology

Undergo a lobotomy comes from a real medical operation. In that old operation doctors cut the links in the front part of the brain, and that operation was called a lobotomy, so the phrase means 'to have that brain operation'.