tubal ligation
6
6.3
- noun
- /ˈtjuːbəl laɪˈɡeɪʃən/
- Specialized
:
ligadura de trompas
- Which is why I am having a tubal ligation on Aug. 26.
- tubal ligation sterilization
- tubal ligation procedure
- bilateral tubal ligation
Examples
-
After having two children, she decided to have a tubal ligation to prevent future pregnancies.
-
Across the continent, in a one-room hut in Uchiru village near Nairobi, Kenya, thirty-year-old "Sara" was scheduling an appointment for a tubal ligation.
Academic text (1998) -
Would you explain to the jury what a "tubal ligation" is?
-
I feel that in this situation, a tubal ligation is appropriate.
Blog text (13) -
X's mother died of an infection resulting from her tubal ligation.
Fiction book (1996) -
A vasectomy isn't the same as a tubal ligation.
Blog text (6) -
You had to be a certain age and have a certain number of children before they considered your case desperate enough to let you have a tubal ligation or a vasectomy.
Blog text (9) -
Physicians also increased their own personal income by performing hysterectomies and tubal ligations instead of prescribing alternative methods of birth control.
Academic text (2000) -
The tubal ligation has held these past 20 years, and that's a good thing; contraception is always preferable to abortion.
Blog text (25) -
In fact, many health insurance policies today don't provide coverage for the full range of sexual health needs: they won't pay for contraceptives, sexual dysfunction medications, tubal ligations, vasectomies, sexual reassignment surgery, and the like.
Academic text (2004)
Synonyms
A medical operation that permanently prevents pregnancy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally transparent: 'tubal' relates to bodily tubes (here the Fallopian tubes) and 'ligation' denotes a surgical tying/sealing procedure, so the combined meaning of surgically tying the tubes to prevent pregnancy is directly inferable. Although medical/technical, this construction is literal and mirrored in many languages, so a learner who knows both constituents would understand the term.
Etymology
Tubal ligation comes from the literal medical act: tubal refers to the small tubes that carry eggs and ligation means tying or sealing those tubes. By tying the tubes, doctors stop eggs and sperm from meeting, so the term now means a 'permanent form of birth control' or a way 'to prevent pregnancy'.