Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
heart ventricle

heart ventricle

1 4.4
A lower chamber of the heart that gets blood and pumps it to the lungs or body
  • noun
  • /hɑrt ˈvɛntrɪkəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ventrículo cardíaco
  • The surgeon explained that the left heart ventricle is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the body.

Examples

  • An ultrasound was used to examine the function of the heart ventricle after the patient’s heart attack.

  • Damage to the right heart ventricle can affect blood flow to the lungs.

  • The left heart ventricle pumps oxygenated blood to the body.

  • Each heart ventricle plays a crucial role in circulation.

  • The left heart ventricle pumps oxygenated blood to the body through the aorta.

  • After the heart fills with blood, the heart ventricle contracts to push blood into the arteries.

  • Doctors monitor the size of the heart ventricle to assess the heart's pumping efficiency.

Synonyms

ventricle
vsheart ventricle
  • Specialized
13 6.1

A chamber in the heart that gets blood from an upper chamber and pumps it into an artery

refers specifically to one of the two lower chambers receiving and pumping blood

How Big

enlarged heart
  • Specialized
3 3.3
heart ventricle
  • Specialized
1 4.4

Surface Forms

heart ventricle singular
heart ventricles plural

Morphology

heart + ventricle

The phrase is transparently compositional: 'ventricle' denotes a cardiac chamber and 'heart' specifies which organ, so 'heart ventricle' clearly means a chamber of the heart that receives blood and pumps it out. This part–whole noun + noun pattern is a regular, cross-linguistically common way to name anatomical parts and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Heart ventricle is a name made from heart and ventricle, where ventricle used to mean a 'small belly' or 'little room'. So a heart ventricle is one of the heart's lower 'pumping rooms' that gets blood from above and pushes it out to the lungs or the body.