anesthetized

adjective

anes·​the·​tized ə-ˈnes-thə-ˌtīzd 

 British  -ˈnēs-

: having lost sensation to pain due to the effects of an anesthetic : experiencing anesthesia especially with accompanying loss of consciousness

Introduced in Munich a few years ago, focused high-energy shock waves are used to fragment upper-tract calculi. The anesthetized patient is suspended in a water bath that transmits the energy pulses.

—Lowell R. King

also : having the senses dulled as if by an anesthetic

One Christmas, after I wrote a book, I stood autographing copies of it for six hours at a chain store … and felt its peculiar dementia, low and steadily throbbing from fluorescent lights, air conditioners, and electronic systems including synthesized violins playing homogenous hymns to the anesthetized people, and knew that somewhere we had gone wrong.

—Garrison Keillor

Examples of anesthetized in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The responses from the rodent rescuers in aiding anesthetized peers ranged from gentle sniffing and grooming to more forceful actions such as mouth or tongue biting, eventually escalating to pulling the tongue out of the unconscious mouse to clear the airway. —Discover Magazine, 11 Mar. 2025

Require consent to perform an intimate examination on an anesthetized or unconscious patient, except under limited circumstances, according to an amendment to the bill. —Max Filby, The Enquirer, 20 Dec. 2024

Kwong’s secretary complained more than a decade ago that her boss would remark on the grooming of anesthetized patients’ pubic hair, The Times previously reported. —Rebecca Ellis, Los Angeles Times, 20 Apr. 2024

As of 2021, 14 states had rules protecting against non-consensual exams of anesthetized patients, according to a study published in January 2022 in the journal Annals of Surgery Open. —Annalisa Merelli, STAT, 1 Apr. 2024

In there, the light was all cold and blue fluorescence washing over the sea of scrub caps huddled around an anesthetized young woman on a gurney. —Megan Molteni, STAT, 21 Feb. 2024

Breeding involves removing eggs and sperm from anesthetized fish, and typically euthanizing males after extraction. —Dasha Afanasieva, Fortune Europe, 21 Jan. 2024

Previous studies of anesthetized animals and brain slices revealed groups of neurons that are important for satisfaction and for stopping animals from eating too much. —Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Dec. 2023

Getting blood samples from anesthetized or restrained wild primates in zoos or captive breeding centers was often challenging, says another contributor, Govindhaswamy Umapathy. —Byelizabeth Pennisi, science.org, 1 June 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for anesthetized

• americanized
• anathematized
• collateralized
• contextualized
• conventionalized
• demilitarized
• demineralized
• departmentalized
• industrialised
• industrialized
• materialised
• materialized