respiratory alkalosis
1
6.7
- noun
- /ˌrɛspəˈrɑɪtəri ˌæl.kəˈloʊ.sɪs/
- Specialized
:
alcalosis respiratoria
- During the examination, the patient exhibited signs of respiratory alkalosis, which the doctor attributed to hyperventilation.
Examples
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The doctor explained that rapid breathing can lead to respiratory alkalosis by decreasing carbon dioxide levels in the blood.
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Go into respiratory alkalosis.
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Breath control exercises are important because they can help prevent respiratory alkalosis caused by excessive carbon dioxide loss.
Synonyms
1
8.9
A condition when the blood has too little acid
A medical condition when the blood has too little acid
Antonyms
- Specialized
Blood becomes too acidic because the lungs do not remove enough carbon dioxide
Surface Forms
Morphology
The term is a straightforward modifier–noun composition: 'respiratory' (relating to breathing) specifies the cause or source of 'alkalosis' (an abnormally high blood alkalinity), so the meaning 'alkalosis caused by respiratory processes' is directly derivable from the parts. Although medical, the semantic relationship follows regular English compounding patterns and would be understandable to a learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Respiratory alkalosis comes from two parts: respiratory meaning 'breathing' and alkalosis meaning 'blood that is too alkaline'. Imagine breathing very fast and blowing out too much gas from your body so the blood becomes less acidic. So the term means 'a condition when fast or deep breathing makes the blood too alkaline'.