anesthesia

noun an·es·the·sia \ ˌa-nəs-ˈthē-zhə \

|Updated on: 18 Jul 2018

Examples: anesthesia in a Sentence

Definition of anesthesia

: loss of sensation with or without loss of consciousness

The patient was given intravenous medication to induce anesthesia.

— see general anesthesia, local anesthesia

See anesthesia defined for English-language learners

See anesthesia defined for kids

Examples of anesthesia in a Sentence

The patient was given an injection to induce anesthesia.

Recent Examples of anesthesia from the Web

Patients are minimally sedated, John said, comparing the anesthesia to the kind people get before an endoscopy.

— maria elena vizcaino, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Puerto Rican evacuee is 100th patient for new procedure at Osceola Regional: 'Now I can live longer'," 3 July 2018
Clinic visits, emergency situations, antibiotics, staying in the hospital, blood transfusions, anesthesia, surgery.

— amy schwabe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "You'd never know this happy-go-lucky 2-year-old has sickle cell anemia. But it's always on her mom's mind.," 11 June 2018
Downs’ book covers much the same ground as Egloff’s play – how a dentist in Connecticut developed the first medical anesthesia, and how his career was undone by his success, his bad business relationships and the reaction to his discovery.

— christopher arnott, courant.com, "Goodspeed Casts 'Oliver!'; Hartford Stage Receives Edgerton Grant," 5 June 2018
Currently, the evidence implicates the stress of surgery rather than the anesthesia.

— judith graham, chicagotribune.com, "Surgery causes cognitive losses in some seniors," 22 May 2018
Fentanyl, a painkiller typically used for anesthesia or pain from cancer treatment is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.

— alex derosier, CBS News, "More customs officers needed to stop flow of drugs through border crossings, report finds," 10 May 2018
Larry Wallace alleges in the suit that the center gave him no hint that Sondra had a reaction to the anesthesia.

— USA TODAY, "How a push to cut costs and boost profits at surgery centers led to a trail of death," 2 Mar. 2018
The 19-item checklist — which asks surgical staff to pause before anesthesia begins, before an incision is made, and before the patient leaves the operating room — aims to curb errors and adverse events and boost communication in the operating room.

— andrew joseph, STAT, "Five ideas that might steer Gawande as CEO of Amazon-backed health company," 20 June 2018
Ahead of her time, Apgar had trouble finding people to work for her until anesthesia became a more acknowledged specialty in the 1940s, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

— mahita gajanan, Time, "Google Doodle Honors Dr. Virginia Apgar, the Anesthesiologist Credited With Saving Many Newborn Babies' Lives," 7 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'anesthesia.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of anesthesia

New Latin, from Greek anaisthēsia insensibility, from a- + aisthēsis perception, from aisthanesthai to perceive — more at audible

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1721

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

Other Medicine Terms

analgesia, angina, diabetes, hepatitis, homeopathy, logorrhea, palliate, pandemic

ANESTHESIA Defined for English Language Learners

anesthesia

noun

Definition of anesthesia for English Language Learners

medical : loss of feeling in a person's body or part of the body through the use of drugs

ANESTHESIA Defined for Kids

anesthesia

noun an·es·the·sia \ ˌa-nəs-ˈthē-zhə \

Definition of anesthesia for Students

: loss of feeling in all or part of the body with or without loss of consciousness The patient was given an injection before surgery to produce anesthesia.

Medical Dictionary

anesthesia

noun an·es·the·sia

variants: or chiefly British anaesthesia play \ˌan-əs-ˈthē-zhə\

medical Definition of anesthesia

1 : loss of sensation especially to touch usually resulting from a lesion in the nervous system or from some other abnormality

2 : loss of sensation and usually of consciousness without loss of vital functions artificially produced by the administration of one or more agents that block the passage of pain impulses along nerve pathways to the brain