ablation

noun

ab·la·tion a-ˈblā-shən

: the process of ablating: such as

: surgical removal

: loss of a part (such as ice from a glacier or the outside of a nose cone) by melting or vaporization

Examples of ablation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Using the same strontium map and laser ablation mass spectrometer, Wooller’s team is mapping the movements of this animal at a period when humans were on the landscape and shortly before mammoths went extinct in mainland Alaska. —

Richard Grant, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2023 Radiofrequency ablation This laparoscopic treatment option involves inserting a small camera and ultrasound tool into the body via two small incisions. —

Macaela MacKenzie, Glamour, 18 July 2023 If those fail, more invasive procedures, called cardiac ablation, may be helpful. —

Melissa Rudy, Fox News, 4 Oct. 2023 Generally speaking, topical therapies and direct ablation methods are pursued before injections. —

Heather L. Brannon, Md, Verywell Health, 7 Sep. 2023 By comparing the change in performance between models that involved all brain regions and models that didn’t—sometimes called an ablation study—the researchers were able to tell how much information each brain region provided. —

IEEE Spectrum, 18 Aug. 2023 In the form of poetry commonly known as erasure, a poet prunes a found body of language—often an official document or a canonical work of literature—whose ablations paradoxically lead to revelation, uncovering subtext, lyricism, lost histories, and politics barely hidden beneath the surface. —

Nicole Sealey, The New Yorker, 24 July 2023 An ablation aims to stop atrial fibrillation by using radio energy to damage the cells responsible for the abnormal rhythm of the heart. —

Dr. Keith Roach, oregonlive, 19 June 2023 Doshi, however, recommends that Watt should strongly consider having a catheter ablation procedure to fix the cells in his heart that are misfiring. —

Bob McManaman, The Arizona Republic, 5 Oct. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ablation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English ablacioun "removal," borrowed from Late Latin ablātiōn-, ablātiō, from Latin ablā-, suppletive stem of auferre "to carry away, remove" + -tiōn-, tiō, suffix of action nouns — more at ablate

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of ablation was in the 15th century

See more words from the same century