Laceration is a wound produced by tearing of flesh, typically resulting in jagged edges. It can vary in depth and severity and is often caused by sharp or blunt trauma. In medical and forensic contexts, laceration describes an irregular, split opening in tissue rather than a clean incision.
"The surgeon described the laceration on the patient’s forearm after the bicycle crash."
"He received stitches for a deep laceration that extended across his cheek."
"Emergency responders secured the scene while the seriousness of the laceration was assessed."
"The forensic report noted a ragged laceration consistent with blunt-force trauma."
Laceration comes from the late Latin laceratio, from the verb lacerare meaning to tear, maim, or rend. The root lacer- derives from Latin lacera, “a wound” or “a tear,” with the abstract noun-form -atio denoting an action or process. The Latin terms themselves originate from lacera, related to lacertus meaning “the limb or body part” in some Classical sources, though etymologists emphasize the tear-related sense in lacerare. In English, laceration appeared in the 16th century in medical or legal writings to denote a torn or jagged wound. Over time, it established a precise medical usage to distinguish irregular flesh wounds from clean incisions. The word’s stress on the second syllable (la-CE-ra-tion in common pronunciation) reflects its syllabic structure and Latin origin, and it is widely used in clinical documentation, dermatology, and forensic pathology. Early usage often specified depths and edges of wounds, and contemporary texts may pair laceration with terms like “tissue prolapse” or “contusion” to convey wound characteristics. The word has remained relatively stable in form across centuries, retaining its Latin-based morphology while expanding into modern anatomical parlance. The first known English use cited in medical glossaries dates to the 1500s–1600s as physicians refined language for describing bodily injuries with explicit precision. In modern medical English, laceration consistently conveys a tearing injury rather than a clean, surgical incision, and it commonly co-occurs with descriptors such as “deep,” “ragged,” or “extending across.”
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Words that rhyme with "Laceration"
-ion sounds
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Pronounce it lah-SAY-rah-shuhn, with the primary stress on the second syllable: /ləˈseɪ.ʃən/ (US) or /ˌlæsəˈreɪʃən/ (some UK varieties). In careful speech, hold the /ə/ in the first syllable and make /ˈseɪ/ clear, followed by /ʃən/. You’ll hear it as luh-SAY-ray-shun in rapid speech, but the canonical form keeps all syllables salient: la-ce-ra-tion.
Two frequent errors: 1) Misplacing primary stress on the first syllable (LA-ser-ation) which sounds off in medical contexts; 2) Muddling the /ˈseɪ/ vowel to /ˈseə/ or shortening it to /se/. Correct by practicing the /seɪ/ diphthong clearly, and keeping /ʃən/ intact at the end. Another pitfall is reducing the middle syllable to a schwa in fast speech, which weakens the medical precision. Focus on: la-SAY-ray-shun, with crisp /ʃən/ at the end.
In US English, you’ll often hear /ləˈseɪ.ʃən/ with Schwa in the first syllable and clear /eɪ/ in the second. UK varieties may render it /ˌlæ.səˈreɪ.ʃən/ or /ˈlæs.əˈreɪ.ʃən/ with less vowel reduction in rapid speech. Australian English typically uses /ləˈseɪ.ʃən/ or /ˈlæsəˈreɪʃən/, with non-rhotic tendencies in some speakers and a tighter /æ/ in stressed syllables. The key is the /ˈseɪ/ diphthong and the final /ʃən/ cluster; rhoticity does not drastically alter the word’s core vowel sequence, but vowel quality and reductions vary by region.
Two main challenges: the /ˈseɪ/ diphthong can blend with surrounding vowels, making the stressed vowel ambiguous; and the final /-ˈʃən/ can blur into /-ən/ in fast speech. Also, the first syllable L- can be mispronounced as /læs-/ or /lə-/, affecting intelligibility in medical contexts. Practice by isolating the /seɪ/ diphthong, then anchor the /ʃən/ with a light, rapid schwa; say la-SEY-ruh-shun.
Laceration carries a relatively transparent orthography, but the second syllable houses the key diphthong /eɪ/ that signals the stressed nucleus in many dialects. There’s no silent letter; the challenge is coordinating the onset consonants and the /ə/ vowel in the first syllable with the mid-stressed /ˈseɪ/ and final /ʃən/. The unique factor is maintaining consistent stress on the second syllable in most dialects while preserving crisp /ˈseɪ/ and /ʃən/.
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