a small sharp knife used by doctors in medical operationsThe surgeon made the first incision with a wide-bladed scalpel.Wordfinderoperationamputate,anaesthetic,graft,operation,procedure,scalpel,scrubs,stitch,surgery,transplantOxford Collocations DictionaryScalpel is used before these nouns: bladeSeefull entrySee related entries:Medical equipment,OperationsWord Originmid 18th cent.: from French, or from Latin scalpellum, diminutive of scalprum ‘chisel’, from scalpere ‘to scratch’.
See scalpel in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
