incision
noun
Simple meaning
Cutting into a substance.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnsizhuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnˈsɪʒən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A cut, especially one made by a scalpel or similar medical tool in the context of surgical operation; the scar resulting from such a cut.
The act of cutting into a substance.
The cutting of or into body tissues or organs (especially by a surgeon as part of an operation)
soccer
A cut-back
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A cut, especially one made by a scalpel or similar medical tool in the context of surgical operation; the scar resulting from such a cut.
Used this way, incision is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The cutting of or into body tissues or organs (especially by a surgeon as part of an operation).
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.