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asthma attack

asthma attack

14 2.5
A sudden time when breathing becomes very difficult and you make a high whistling sound
  • noun
  • /ˈæsmə əˈtæk/
translation icon : ataque de asma
  • When people with asthma are exposed to these triggers, an asthma attack or exacerbation can occur.
  • acute asthma attack
  • severe asthma attack
  • suffer from asthma attacks

And for my brother, that was that was bad because I had an asthma attack.

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Examples

  • If left untreated, asthma attacks can be life-threatening.

    Academic text (2015)
  • But you can die of an asthma attack brought on by it.

  • My son had an asthma attack.

  • I was having an asthma attack.

  • Danny had an asthma attack, and Jack took him to the hospital.

  • Within a few days, however, she suffers a major asthma attack and has to be admitted to hospital.

    Academic text (2016)
  • She panicked during the asthma attack, struggling to breathe as the symptoms intensified.

  • His asthma attack was triggered by the smoke from the barbecue, leaving him gasping for air.

  • After playing outside in the cold, she experienced an asthma attack which required her to use her inhaler.

Synonyms

attack
vsasthma attack
559 4.1

A sudden time when bad symptoms appear

refers to that sudden episode specifically for breathing problems and wheezing

Surface Forms

asthma attack singular

Morphology

asthma + attack

The meaning 'a sudden episode of severe asthma symptoms' is directly and compositionally derived from 'asthma' (the respiratory condition) + 'attack' (a sudden bout or seizure of symptoms). This medical collocation is cross-linguistically common (e.g., French 'crise d'asthme', Spanish 'ataque de asma'), so learners who know both words would readily infer the phrase.

Etymology

Asthma attack is a simple name that shows the image behind it: asthma describes hard, noisy breathing and an attack is a sudden time when this happens. So the phrase means 'a sudden episode of severe breathing trouble'.