lancinate

Meanings

verblancinate (third-person singular simple present lancinates, present participle lancinating, simple past and past participle lancinated)

present singular third person lancinates · participle present lancinating · participle past lancinated · past lancinated

transitiveTo pierce or stab (as with a lance); to lance.
Through a minuscule pinhole in that lead block, he could now direct tiny, controlled doses of a furiously potent beam of X-rays [...] to lancinate any cancer cell to death.
2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies, Fourth Estate (2011), page 159
Synonyms: run through, spear, chef, chib, ching, chive, enthrill, foin

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo pierce or stab (as with a lance); to lance.

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivepainful as if caused by a sharp instrument

Also see

chef chib ching chive cutting enthrill foin gore gride jab job juke kebab keen knifecrime knifelike lancinating piercing pigstick pink poach shank shiv splash stab stabbing stick stob stog thrust yerk

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Latinlancinātus
Englishlancinate

First attested in 1603; borrowed from Latin lancinātus, perfect passive participle of lancinō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Cognate with French lanciner.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

cantilena

Cite this entry

APA

lancinate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lancinate

MLA

“lancinate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lancinate. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lancinate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lancinate.

Source: lancinate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.