CAUTERISE

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (verb)

Verb forms

Present simple: I / you / we / they cauterise ... he / she / it cauterises

Past simple: cauterised

Past participle: cauterised

-ing form: cauterising

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make insensitive or callous; deaden feelings or morals

Synonyms:

callous; cauterise; cauterize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

harden; indurate; inure (cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Burn, sear, or freeze (tissue) using a hot iron or electric current or a caustic agent

Example:

The surgeon cauterized the wart

Synonyms:

burn; cauterise; cauterize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

care for; treat (provide treatment for)

burn (damage by burning with heat, fire, or radiation)

"Cauterise" entails doing...:

scorch; sear (make very hot and dry)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

cauterisation; cautery (the act of coagulating blood and destroying tissue with a hot iron or caustic agent or by freezing)

cautery (an instrument or substance used to destroy tissue for medical reasons (eg removal of a wart) by burning it with a hot iron or an electric current or a caustic or by freezing it)