How to Use sever in a Sentence

sever

verb
  • He severed the lowest tree limbs.
  • His finger was severed in the accident.
  • Activists are asking the government to sever all diplomatic relations with the country.
  • In 1994, the mainline Churches of Christ severed ties with the group.
    Andrea Marks, Rolling Stone, 3 Aug. 2023
  • The train crushed and nearly severed his right foot and his left leg at the knee.
    Jessica Lussenhop, ProPublica, 19 Dec. 2023
  • Aubrey was pulled almost out of the window, and the strap severed her feet.
    David Chiu, Peoplemag, 26 Dec. 2023
  • Saldívar then pulled out her gun and shot the singer in the back, severing an artery.
    Kelsie Gibson, Peoplemag, 17 Feb. 2024
  • An uncle is a bond of faith that even time can't sever, a gift to last all of our lives.
    Angela Andaloro, Peoplemag, 8 Aug. 2023
  • In 1971, Arthur Burns begged Richard Nixon to not sever the dollar’s link to gold.
    John Tamny, Forbes, 7 May 2023
  • Slide the knife under the oyster to sever the muscle from the bottom shell.
    Katlyn Moncada, Better Homes & Gardens, 19 Oct. 2023
  • The pipe was cracked, severing the water supply and flooding the first floor of the station.
    John R. Ellement, BostonGlobe.com, 13 July 2023
  • Now, the ease with which people move from place to place, and rise in online banking, has severed that link.
    Shawn Tully, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2023
  • One wing is severed, the fuselage is ripped in two, the cockpit crushed and the front half of the plane slides down a glacier that became known as the Valley of Tears.
    David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Sep. 2023
  • The charge was severed from the rest of the case when Bankman-Fried was convicted at trial in November.
    Aaron Katersky, ABC News, 29 Dec. 2023
  • Rescuers were able to loosen the gear one cut at a time, and once the stretch of rope running through the whale's mouth and around its tail was severed, the humpback swam away.
    Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 30 Oct. 2023
  • Shrapnel from the second shell hit Mr. Dagan in the neck, severing an artery and killing him, his wife said.
    Patrick Kingsley, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2023
  • The collapse severed the economic lifeline in and out of the region.
    Colin Dickey, Popular Mechanics, 31 Aug. 2023
  • In the study, researchers severed both strands of the DNA molecule in cells from humans, cows, mice and bowhead whales.
    Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Dec. 2023
  • Gage had broken his back and severed his spinal cord in an accident.
    John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 July 2023
  • It was fully severed when, in 2012, Firkus remarried, vowing to spend the rest of his life with the sister of a close friend of Heidi's.
    Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 20 Oct. 2023
  • The Zuni shot out of the rocket pod, severing the arm of a crewman who was in the rocket’s path, and hitting an A-4 Skyhawk.
    Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 9 May 2023
  • Bomb fragments severed her spinal cord and paralyzed her from the waist down, doctors said.
    Samar Abu Elouf Samar Abu Elouf, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2024
  • Binance’s best bet for survival is to sever all ties with Zhao, but its owner seems unlikely to get out of the way.
    Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 4 Jan. 2024
  • The storm severed transportation links between New York City and the upstate region.
    Kristin Chapman, New York Times, 10 July 2023
  • The judge scheduled a hearing on Wednesday on their motions to sever themselves from the others.
    Kate Brumback, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Sep. 2023
  • In the finale, Joe decides to sever ties with the imaginary Rhys once and for all, throwing him into the River Thames.
    Amy MacKelden, ELLE, 10 Mar. 2023
  • Now, Amazon is trying to sever its contract with Ervin near the end of this month, which would put him out of business and his 84 drivers out of work.
    WIRED, 13 June 2023
  • An Iraqi missile had severed the plane's hydraulic lines.
    David Martin, CBS News, 1 May 2023
  • Musk’s own trans daughter last summer took legal steps to change her last name and sever any legal ties with him.
    Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 17 Apr. 2023
  • McAfee agreed to sever the cases from the other defendants but not from each other.
    Kathryn Watson, CBS News, 15 Sep. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sever.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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