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🚽 Blocked stool 🦷 Blocked tooth 🧱 Pressed together 🔨 Forceful hit
impaction

impaction

8.6
Things pressed tightly together and fixed so they are hard to move
  • noun
  • /ɪmˈpækʃən/
translation icon : obstrucción
  • The intimate contact of particle-laden gas and the granular bed facilitates particle capture through inertial impaction.

Examples

  • Nor did we find any relationship between any aspect of cerumen impaction and sex, which is not surprising because the chemical makeup of cerumen is the same in both sexes.

    Academic text (2006)

  • If impaction occurs in the intestines, it can result in severe abdominal pain and require medical attention.

  • Therefore, the nature of the impaction can range from simple to life-threatening.

    Academic text (2006)

  • The consequences of cerumen impaction can be divided into two major types: medical and audiologic.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Impaction of foreign bodies in the upper aerodigestive tract has been reported since early in recorded history.

    Academic text (2006)

  • The Personal Environmental Monitor (PEM) removes particulates larger than 2.5 m using impaction and collects PM2.5 on filter paper.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The doctor explained that the impaction of food in the esophagus can lead to serious health issues.

  • After the accident, they discovered a impaction caused by the bone fragments pressing against each other.

Antonyms

separation
89 2.6

The process of moving apart or staying apart

Compounds

fecal impaction
  • Specialized
7.9

A mass of hard stool stuck in the lower bowel that cannot be passed

How Firm

immobility
4 6.3
impaction
8.6
firmness
1 3.0
stability
363 3.1
looseness
1 2.5
freedom
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

impaction singular
impactions plural

Morphology

impaction = impact (semi-transparent) = impact + ion

Built from 'impact' + '-ion'; the sense 'closely pressed together and firmly fixed' is a more technical or extended use related to pressing/packing rather than everyday 'collision', so it may not be fully transparent to learners.

Etymology

Impaction comes from the word impact, where im- means 'in' and the rest came to mean 'to press or force together'. So impaction can mean things pressed closely and fixed in place, which is why it describes a tight, hard-packed condition that is hard to move.