What does "mastectomy" mean?

The surgical procedure to remove all or part of a breast and sometimes nearby tissues.

How do you pronounce "mastectomy"?

Pronounced //ˌmæsˈtɛktəmi//.

Common synonyms include: adenoidectomy, appendectomy, arteriectomy, castration, cholecystectomy, craniectomy.

//ˌmæsˈtɛktəmi// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The surgical procedure to remove all or part of a breast and sometimes nearby tissues.
"Three years later came Angelina Jolie’s revelation that she had the BRCA1 gene, and had decided to have a double mastectomy. The story topped the news, and was written about for days afterwards."
2
surgical removal of a breast to remove a malignant tumor wordnet

"Angelina Jolie had a double mastectomy."

From mast- + -ectomy.

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