Declaw

//diːˈklɔː// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To surgically remove the claws of (an animal); to perform onychectomy on. transitive
  2. 2
    remove the claws from wordnet
  3. 3
    To make harmless. figuratively, transitive

    "If, when the moment arrives, China is unwilling to side with its allies, the Arabs will rapidly find a declawed Chinese dragon unwelcome."

Synonyms

All synonyms
defangdefangnerfunfangunfang

Example

More examples

"Is it cruel to declaw your cat?"

Etymology

From de- + claw.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.