Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
💓 Irregular muscle movement 🧵 Fiber-like
fibrillary

fibrillary

9.1
Having fast, irregular muscle contractions, especially in the heart
  • adjective
  • /ˈfaɪbrəˌlɛri/
  • Specialized
translation icon : fibrilar
  • An ECG can detect fibrillary activity that may indicate a serious cardiac condition.

Examples

  • The doctor noted fibrillary movements in the patient's heart muscle during the examination.

  • Researchers studied the effects of fibrillary contractions on overall heart function.

  • The fibrillary activity in the heart can lead to serious complications.

  • Doctors observed fibrillary contractions during the patient's examination.

  • An ECG can detect fibrillary activity that may indicate a serious cardiac condition.

  • The doctor noted fibrillary movements in the patient's heart muscle during the examination.

  • Researchers studied the effects of fibrillary contractions on overall heart function.

Surface Forms

fibrillary positive

Morphology

fibrillary = fibril (opaque) = fibril + ary

Although formed from 'fibril' + '-ary', the clinical sense 'relating to rapid, irregular contractions' derives from the medical term 'fibrillation' and is specialized; the meaning is not obvious from 'fibril' alone for average learners.

Etymology

Fibrillary comes from the root fibr- meaning 'fiber' or 'thread'. So when doctors describe fibrillary movements they mean tiny, thread-like parts of a muscle are twitching quickly and in an irregular way.