lacerations

Torn skin wounds

Lacerations are cuts or tears in flesh or skin, typically with rough or jagged edges rather than clean incisions.

The term appears most often in medical and legal contexts to describe wounds from accidents, assaults, or other trauma.

The victim sustained multiple lacerations to the face and arms.

While laceration technically refers to physical wounds, people sometimes use it figuratively for emotional damage: the lacerations of a bitter divorce.

wounds

cuts

Severs or reduces

gashesDeep, jagged incisions
slashesDiagonal line marks
incisionsCuts made deliberately

tears · abrasions · lesions · punctures · scrapes · gouges · rips · fissures · rents · perforations

causes

glass

Transparent solid from sand

knifeSharp cutting utensil
bladeFlat cutting edge
sharp edgeHoned cutting surface

barbed wire · metal · jagged · serrated · broken bottle · shrapnel · machinery · fall · collision · blunt force

medical

sutures

Medical wound closures

stitchesThread fastening wounds
bandageWound covering strip
gauzeOpen-weave medical fabric

antiseptic · bleeding · hemorrhage · debridement · wound care · scar · healing · infection · tetanus · emergency

severity

superficial

Lacking depth or substance

deepFar from surface
minorScale with lowered third
severeExtremely harsh or strict

extensive · multiple · parallel · irregular · clean · ragged · stellate · linear · complex · life-threatening

violence

assault

Violent offensive act

attackAggressive act against another
stabbingWounding with a blade
slashingCutting with force

brutality · bloodshed · combat · maiming · aggression · battering · self-harm · defensive wounds · forensic · crime scene

lacerations

cuts

glass

sutures

superficial

assault

lacerations

Opposites

Categories

Family