Maim

//meɪm// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A severe, serious wound. obsolete

    "it ſequeſtred me from the woonted meanes of my maintenance, which is as great a maime to any mans happineſſe as can bee feared from the hands of miſerie, or the deepe pit of diſpaire wherinto I was falne, beyond my greateſt friendes reach to recouer mee"

Verb
  1. 1
    To wound seriously; to cause permanent loss of function of a limb or part of the body.

    "He was maimed by a bear."

  2. 2
    injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration or mutilation wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
impairlaceratemutilateabradebarkbatter

Example

More examples

"If you try to stare down a bear, it will maim you."

Etymology

From Middle English maymen, mahaymen, from Anglo-Norman maheimer, mahaigner, of Germanic origin; see mayhem.

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