heart attack

noun

|Updated on: 17 Aug 2018

Examples: heart attack in a Sentence

Definition of heart attack

: an acute episode of coronary heart disease marked by the death or damage of heart muscle due to insufficient blood supply to the heart usually as a result of a coronary artery becoming blocked by a blood clot formed in response to a ruptured or torn fatty arterial deposit

Note: Symptoms of heart attack include discomfort or pain in the chest, shoulder, arm, back, neck, or jaw, shortness of breath, dizziness or light-headedness, heartburn, nausea, excessive sweating, and extreme fatigue.

— called also myocardial infarction

See heart attack defined for English-language learners

See heart attack defined for kids

Examples of heart attack in a Sentence

Her chest pains turned out to be caused by a minor heart attack.
He died of a massive heart attack.

Recent Examples of heart attack from the Web

The designation lasts up to five years for trauma, four for stroke and three for heart attack.

— jason hancock, kansascity, "Hospitals fear Parson budget cut could endanger stroke, heart attack, trauma patients," 13 July 2018
This award recognizes the township’s emergency medical services for excellence in pre-hospital care of patients who have a serious heart attack.

— jennie key, Cincinnati.com, "City wins appeal in public records lawsuit," 12 July 2018
But what if Taft, who weighed more than 300 pounds, had had a heart attack before the election?

— tom shippey, WSJ, "Science Fiction: When History Abruptly Takes a Detour," 12 July 2018
Shelton passed away Sunday night in Los Angeles after battling health issues since suffering a heart attack on May 5, according to his son, Marlon, a former basketball player at the University of Washington.

— bob condotta, The Seattle Times, "Lonnie Shelton, starter for Sonics’ 1979 NBA title winners, dies at age 62," 9 July 2018
Last week, at a Veterans Administration hospital in Connecticut to get treatment for a knee ailment, Pelzer suddenly suffered a massive heart attack.

— adrian walker, BostonGlobe.com, "Ex-offenders lose a tireless advocate," 3 July 2018
South Asians develop heart disease on average 10 years earlier than other groups and have a much greater chance of having a heart attack before the age of 50, according to Stanford Health Care.

— monica luhar /, NBC News, "New report details high heart disease risk in South Asians in U.S.," 29 June 2018
And other research suggests that people who have high levels of C-reactive protein have a higher risk for a future heart attack.

— sarah jacoby, SELF, "The Science on Weight and Health," 26 June 2018
The next day, in the relative safety of a motel room, Cargo had a major heart attack.

— matt maynard, Outside Online, "Setting a Speed Record from Patagonia to Alaska," 25 June 2018

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

First Known Use of heart attack

1836

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

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HEART ATTACK Defined for English Language Learners

heart attack

noun

Definition of heart attack for English Language Learners

: a sudden painful and dangerous condition in which your heart stops beating properly

Medical Dictionary

heart attack

noun

medical Definition of heart attack

: an acute episode of coronary heart disease marked by the death or damage of heart muscle due to insufficient blood supply to the heart muscle usually as a result of a coronary artery becoming blocked by a blood clot formed in response to a ruptured or torn fatty arterial deposit

When a patient is in the throes of a heart attack, the physician's goal is restoring adequate blood flow to the starving heart muscle as swiftly as possible.
—Harvard Medical School Health Letter, May 1993

It has long been known that aspirin helps prevent blood clots … and many studies have shown that the drug can reduce the incidence of heart attacks and strokes.
—Peter Aldhous, Science, 7 Jan. 1994