CIRCUMCISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does circumcise mean? 

• CIRCUMCISE (verb)
  The verb CIRCUMCISE has 2 senses:

1. cut the skin over the clitoris

2. cut the foreskin off male babies or teenage boys

  Familiarity information: CIRCUMCISE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CIRCUMCISE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they circumcise    ... he / she / it circumcises   
Past simple: circumcised   
Past participle: circumcised   
-ing form: circumcising   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cut the skin over the clitoris

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "circumcise" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cut the foreskin off male babies or teenage boys

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

During the bris, the baby boy is circumcised

Hypernyms (to "circumcise" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

"Circumcise" entails doing...:

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

circumcision (the act of circumcising; surgical removal of the foreskin of males)

circumcision (the act of circumcising performed on males eight days after birth as a Jewish and Muslim religious rite)