declaw
UK/diːˈklɔː/
declaw verb: to surgically remove the claws of (an animal); to perform onychectomy on.
Verb
declaw (third-person singular simple present declaws, present participle declawing, simple past and past participle declawed)
- To surgically remove the claws of (an animal); to perform onychectomy on.
- On Oct. 9, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that bans cats from being declawed statewide. Veterinarians can no longer declaw cats even if an owner wants the procedure to be done.2025 October 20, Kai Arellano, “New California law prohibits declawing cats”, in CapRadio, archived from the original on 25 Oct 2025
- To make harmless; to remove the power, authority, or force from.
- The acerbic comedy has been declawed by the demands of network TV.
- If, when the moment arrives, China is unwilling to side with its allies, the Arabs will rapidly find a declawed Chinese dragon unwelcome.2016 January 25, “Why Arabs would regret a toothless Chinese dragon”, in The National, archived from the original on 10 Jul 2024, retrieved 25 Jan 2016
Forms of declaw
| third-person singular present | declaws |
|---|---|
| present participle | declawing |
| past participle | declawed |
| past | declawed |
Origin of declaw
From de- + claw.
Words that rhyme with declaw
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about declaw
- What does declaw mean?
- Declaw means to surgically remove the claws of (an animal); to perform onychectomy on.
- What part of speech is declaw?
- Declaw is a verb.
- How do you pronounce declaw?
- Declaw is pronounced /diːˈklɔː/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of declaw?
- The past tense of declaw is declawed.
Words near declaw in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: declaw (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “declaw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/declaw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.