heart attack

noun

: 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 lightheadedness, heartburn, nausea, excessive sweating, and extreme fatigue.

called also myocardial infarction

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 on the Web

Johnny had resided in hospice after suffering his second heart attack in the same year. —Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 2 Oct. 2025

The study wasn’t designed to prove whether or how common heart disease risk factors might directly cause events like heart failure, heart attacks, or stroke. —Tom Gavin, EverydayHealth.com, 2 Oct. 2025

Solar storms—giant bursts of energy from the Sun that disturb the Earth’s magnetic field—may play a role in triggering heart attacks, particularly in women, a new study has found. —Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025

If this trend continued, more than 400,000 city residents would be killed by tobacco, with more than a million more suffering from heart attacks, lung disease, strokes, and cancer. —Dr. Tom Frieden, Time, 30 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1836, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for heart attack

• almanac
• camelback
• cardiac
• carryback
• cluniac
• diamondback
• lumberjack
• maniac
• paperback
• piggyback
• quarterback
• saddleback

Kids Definition

heart attack

noun

: a sudden severe occurrence of damage to heart muscle caused by too little blood going to the heart usually as a result of the blocking of a coronary artery (as by a bit of fatty matter)

Medical Definition

heart attack

noun

: 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

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.

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

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

called also acute myocardial infarction, myocardial infarction

compare angina pectoris, coronary insufficiency, heart failure sense 1