insulin
noun
\
Definition of insulin
: a protein pancreatic hormone secreted by the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans that is essential especially for the metabolism of carbohydrates and the regulation of glucose levels in the blood and that when insufficiently produced results in diabetes mellitus
Examples of insulin in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Diabetic ketoacidosis can be life-threatening if not treated with insulin and fluids. — Carolyn L. Todd, SELF, "Why a ‘Sugar Hangover’ Can Feel as Terrible as the Real Thing," 27 Oct. 2018 To compensate, the pancreas creates even more insulin to try to overcome the resistance. — Colleen Stinchcombe, Woman's Day, "What's the Difference Between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes?," 10 Sep. 2018 Immediately, our bloodstream is flooded with insulin. — Sandy Bauers, Philly.com, "Good fats, bad fats, and why the ketogenic diet matters," 13 July 2018 More than 30 million Americans have diabetes, mostly Type 2 where the body loses the ability to produce or use insulin to turn food into energy. — Carla K. Johnson, The Seattle Times, "Obesity surgery may lower heart-attack danger in diabetics, study finds," 16 Oct. 2018 According to the American Heart Association, getting too many calories from protein, which is usually the case for those eating low-carb, can result in not enough insulin in the body, and that forces us to start burning energy from our fat stores. — Samantha Lefave, Redbook, "Why You Should Never Ignore Sweet-Smelling Urine (or These Other Body Odors)," 3 Aug. 2018 Serlie and colleagues turned off the DBS devices for 17 hours and measured participants’ fasting blood sugar levels and responses to insulin. — Emily Underwood, Science | AAAS, "Could deep brain stimulation help zap diabetes?," 23 May 2018 Zenomics is developing a patch that delivers insulin through the skin painlessly, using microneedles. — Mike Feibus, USA TODAY, "Afraid of needles? These start-ups are working on alternatives," 8 July 2018 Subjects of the study receiving the vaccine or placebo continued to use insulin during the study period. — Glenn Fleishman, Fortune, "Tuberculosis Vaccine Could Reverse Type 1 Diabetes, Study Shows," 21 June 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'insulin.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more
More Definitions for insulin
insulin
noun
English Language Learners Definition of insulin
medical : a substance that your body makes and uses to turn sugar into energy
See the full definition for insulin in the English Language Learners Dictionary
insulin
noun
\
Kids Definition of insulin
: a hormone made by the pancreas that helps the cells in the body take up glucose from the blood and that is used to treat diabetes
insulin
noun
\
Medical Definition of insulin
: a protein hormone that is synthesized in the pancreas from proinsulin and secreted by the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans, that is essential for the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins, that regulates blood sugar levels by facilitating the uptake of glucose into tissues, by promoting its conversion into glycogen, fatty acids, and triglycerides, and by reducing the release of glucose from the liver, and that when produced in insufficient quantities results in diabetes mellitus — see iletin
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on insulin
What made you want to look up insulin? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
Late Autumn 2018 Words of the Day Quiz
-
- Which is a synonym of yahoo?
Test your visual vocabulary with our 10-question challenge!
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZ
Share insulin
Resources for insulin