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to defibrillate

to defibrillate

4 7.4
To stop the heart's very fast, uneven beating and make it beat normally with electric shocks
  • verb
  • /dɪˈfɪbrɪˌleɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : desfibrilar
  • The paramedics quickly decided to defibrillate the patient to restore his heartbeat.
  • defibrillate the victim
  • need to defibrillate

Examples

  • Let's go ahead and defibrillate!

  • Prepare to defibrillate!

  • Do you want to defibrillate again?

  • They had to defibrillate her.

  • We've got to defibrillate her.

  • Everything is fine, Greg, I suffered a minor heart attack, but I was able to defibrillate myself before going into fatal cardiac arrest.

  • You defibrillated yourself?

  • Harmon put the paddles on and defibrillated it.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • In order to save her life, the doctor had to defibrillate her after she collapsed.

  • If his heart stops beating, we need to defibrillate him immediately.

Synonyms

to resuscitate
vsto defibrillate
43 7.2

To make someone breathe and wake again after they stop breathing

stops irregular heart fibrillation using electric shocks to restore heartbeat

Surface Forms

defibrillate infinitive
defibrillated past participle
defibrillating present participle
defibrillates third person singular

Morphology

defibrillate = fibrillate (opaque) = de + fibrill + ate

For someone who knows 'fibrillate', adding 'de-' suggests reversing or stopping that process, though the exact clinical action is specialized.

Etymology

Defibrillate begins with de- ('remove') and comes from fibril, a small form of fiber ('small thread'). So to defibrillate is to stop the heart's tiny fibers from trembling and bring back a normal heartbeat with an electric shock.