1
: severely injured or damaged by cutting, tearing, or crushing
a mangled foot
A special bed—a box lined with cottonwool—was made for the mangled pigeon while the Wilsons nursed it …—
Iain Macdonald
Iain Macdonald… mangled warplanes lie strewn across the desert floor, their wings and tails torn off, their fuselages punctured.—Richard Wolkomir
Richard Wolkomir2
: spoiled or made incoherent
a mangled message
mangled punctuation/syntax
This is a draft manuscript waiting for an editor to impose coherence and to smooth over mangled grammar, malapropisms and political oversimplifications.—Emily MacFarquhar
Emily MacFarquharExamples of mangled in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
What remained of that mangled outfit somehow managed to win 115-113 in overtime against former Warrior Kevin Durant and a supporting Rockets cast that specializes in turning basketball games into rock fights.
—Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 6 Mar. 2026
At last, after another half hour that whipped the nerves into a frantic state of alertness came the Pyrrhic victory, and the small mangled spot of blood, my blood, on the head-board of the bed.
—Literary Hub, 3 Mar. 2026
The deep green marble looks sophisticated on your countertop, even among used cotton rounds and a sticky, mangled tube of Crest.
—Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 23 Feb. 2026
Upon arrival, firefighters began working to extricate two men who were trapped inside the mangled vehicle.
—Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 21 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for mangled
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Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 6 Mar. 2026
At last, after another half hour that whipped the nerves into a frantic state of alertness came the Pyrrhic victory, and the small mangled spot of blood, my blood, on the head-board of the bed.
—Literary Hub, 3 Mar. 2026
The deep green marble looks sophisticated on your countertop, even among used cotton rounds and a sticky, mangled tube of Crest.
—Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 23 Feb. 2026
Upon arrival, firefighters began working to extricate two men who were trapped inside the mangled vehicle.
—Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 21 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for mangled
Cite this Entry
“Mangled.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mangled. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.
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