heart attack

noun

|Updated on: 22 Jun 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

That’s when Mayor Ed Lee — a longtime city administrator who had been elevated to mayor when Gavin Newsom resigned in 2011 to run for lieutenant governor — collapsed in a Safeway store and later died from a heart attack.

— benjamin oreskes, latimes.com, "London Breed just made history as San Francisco's mayor-elect. Now come the real challenges," 14 June 2018
Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, and his recovery from a heart attack is going very well, the White House said.

— tory newmyer, Washington Post, "The Finance 202: It's U.S. states that will bear the brunt of Trump's tariffs," 14 June 2018
And Nelson is more than just a fan of the beloved crooner, who passed away in 1998 at age 82 from a heart attack.

— stephanie nolasco, Fox News, "Willie Nelson says Frank Sinatra helped him become a better singer," 7 June 2018
Dolenz also spoke of the absence of fellow Monkee Davy Jones, who died in 2012 from a heart attack.

— steve marinucci, Billboard, "The Monkees' Mike Nesmith & Micky Dolenz on Their New Tour, TV Legacy & the Rock Hall of Fame," 30 May 2018
Leek saw potential in both Woolford (Class of 1999) and Davies while each was in still in middle school before his death in February 2014 from a heart attack.

— aaron carter, Philly.com, "Olympic hopeful Thelma Davies is outrunning opponents, even a mysterious rash," 24 May 2018
Prosecutor's funeral On Sept. 4, Jackson County DA Gerald Fox died of a heart attack while sport shooting.

— bruce vielmetti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "It's been a rough year for this Wisconsin DA, so he's checked out for the summer," 4 June 2018
Ofri had one patient whose iron levels were close to zero — a condition that could cause heart attack or death in some people but in this case caused no harm and no symptoms.

— emily sohn, Washington Post, "Even if a medical test shows an abnormality, you may not need to worry about it," 3 June 2018
Two years later, wife would follow husband in death, but hers would be by heart attack.

— chicago tribune, chicagotribune.com, "Algren Award runner-up: "Fluid Mechanics" by Mabel Yu," 2 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