: a small straight thin-bladed knife used especially in surgery
Examples of scalpel in a Sentence
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Everyone’s yelling, and while Simone tries and fails to talk Jenna down, Lucas lunges at the frantic mother with a scalpel.
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Laura Bradley, Vulture, 16 May 2025
Beans often have a very tough seed coat that prevents water from entering, and only when this is broken—by something such as wildfire heat, the acid of a bird’s stomach, a scalpel or sandpaper—can water enter and the seed awaken.
—Katarina Zimmer, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 May 2025
Blunt instrument The Supreme Court’s new test, with its implicit suggestion that coercion is found in exposure to materials that go against central tenets of parental religion, is more sledgehammer than scalpel.
—Stephen L. Carter, Mercury News, 8 July 2025
The Supreme Court’s new test, with its implicit suggestion that coercion is found in exposure to materials that go against central tenets of parental religion, is more sledgehammer than scalpel.
—Stephen L. Carter, Twin Cities, 2 July 2025
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Laura Bradley, Vulture, 16 May 2025
Beans often have a very tough seed coat that prevents water from entering, and only when this is broken—by something such as wildfire heat, the acid of a bird’s stomach, a scalpel or sandpaper—can water enter and the seed awaken.
—Katarina Zimmer, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 May 2025
Blunt instrument The Supreme Court’s new test, with its implicit suggestion that coercion is found in exposure to materials that go against central tenets of parental religion, is more sledgehammer than scalpel.
—Stephen L. Carter, Mercury News, 8 July 2025
The Supreme Court’s new test, with its implicit suggestion that coercion is found in exposure to materials that go against central tenets of parental religion, is more sledgehammer than scalpel.
—Stephen L. Carter, Twin Cities, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for scalpel
Cite this Entry
“Scalpel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scalpel. Accessed 9 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
scalpel
noun
scal·pel
ˈskal-pəl 
also skal-ˈpel
: a small straight thin-bladed knife used especially in surgery
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