What does exenterate mean?
To exenterate is to remove the internal organs or contents of a body or bodily cavity — essentially, to disembowel or eviscerate. The verb is a rarity in everyday English, confined almost entirely to medical and surgical writing, where its noun form, exenteration, describes radical procedures such as orbital exenteration, the removal of the entire contents of the eye socket. Derived from the Greek 'ex' (out) plus 'enteron' (intestine, bowel), the word literally means 'to gut out,' sharing its root with medical terms like enteric and enteritis. When it does appear outside clinical contexts, exenterate tends toward a vividly figurative register, describing an institution or idea that has been hollowed out while its outward shell remains. Writers who reach for it gain precision and gravitas, but should expect most readers to meet it with a dictionary.
verbTo remove the internal organs or contents of a body or body cavity; to disembowel or eviscerate.
- To remove the internal organs or contents of a body, body cavity, or structure, whether in surgery, dissection, or a figurative sense of hollowing out.
"The anatomy students were instructed to carefully exenterate the specimen before the dissection began."
"The surgeon performed an orbital exenteration after the tumor proved untreatable by lesser means."
"Critics argued the new management had effectively exenterated the institution, leaving its grand façade intact but nothing within."
From the Greek 'enteron' meaning intestine, exenterate is the surgical-grade word for emptying something out — and it's still used by eye surgeons today.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of exenterate
Exenterate comes from the Latin 'exenterare,' itself borrowed from Greek roots: 'ex-' meaning 'out' and 'enteron' meaning 'intestine' or 'bowel.' It entered English in the early modern period and has remained largely within anatomical and surgical vocabulary since. The same Greek root gives us 'enteric,' 'enteritis,' and the '-entery' of terms like gastroenterology, all relating to the intestines.
Related word forms
How exenterate is actually used
Exenterate is rare and highly formal, appearing chiefly in medical and surgical contexts — most often as its noun form, exenteration, as in 'orbital exenteration.' Outside medicine it may be used figuratively to suggest being hollowed out, though this usage is uncommon.
Easily confused with exenterate
Exterminate means to destroy or kill off entirely, while exenterate means specifically to remove the internal contents of a body or cavity.