kneecap

From knee +‎ cap.

• IPA^(key): /ˈniːˌkæp/, enPR: nē'kăp

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -iːkæp

kneecap (plural kneecaps)

1. (anatomy) The flat, roundish bone in the knee.

   Synonyms: kneepan, patella, rotula, scutum

2. (roofing) A metal cover trim that fits over a panel rib after it has been cut and bent.
3. A cap or strong covering for the knees, used chiefly for horses, to protect their knees in case of a fall.

kneecap (third-person singular simple present kneecaps, present participle kneecapping, simple past and past participle kneecapped)

1. (transitive) To destroy the knees of (a person), usually by shooting at the knees, as a punishment carried out by criminals or terrorists.
   • 2020, Liam Kennedy, Who Was Responsible for the Troubles?, McGill-Queen's Press, →ISBN, page 109:

     The Sinn Féin press officer Richard McAuley freely admitted, “Back four or five years ago, people were getting kneecapped who should not have been kneecapped.”

2. (transitive, figurative, by extension) To attack (someone) in a way that is excessively and needlessly damaging: To cut (someone) off at the knees.
   • 2025 March 18, Samuel Moyn, “Can Democrats Learn to Dream Big Again?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 March 2025:

     This story of how American originality lost its way is arresting and well told. On an alternate timeline without Donald Trump in office dismantling the American scientific establishment and Elon Musk kneecapping the American state, it might have been the manifesto of a new politics.

• The literal sense of this term is considered a misnomer by medical professionals because only a very small minority of victims suffer damage to the kneecap.

• kneecapping
• kneecapper