open-heart

adjective

ˌō-pən-ˈhärt 

: of, relating to, or performed on a heart temporarily stopped and relieved of circulatory function and surgically opened for repair of defects or damage

open-heart surgery

Examples of open-heart in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The night took an emotional turn when Kimmel talked about his son Billy’s three open-heart surgeries before introducing a video of a young boy receiving cancer treatments who was the beneficiary of the charity’s efforts. — Maxwell Adler, Vanity Fair, 29 Oct. 2026

Barred From Visiting Son In Hospital After the Channel 4 documentary about the allegations was aired in 2023, Brand told the court he was not allowed to visit his son, who was receiving open-heart surgery in a London hospital. — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 28 Oct. 2026

Former bodybuilder Jeremy Braud was back in the gym 12 weeks after having the major open-heart surgery. — Stephanie Stahl, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026

Autonomous navigation Transcatheter closure is a minimally invasive technique that repairs structural heart defects without open-heart surgery. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 7 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1959, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for open-heart

• counterpart
• apart
• depart
• flowchart
• forepart
• impart
• pushcart
• rampart
• redstart
• restart
• subpart
• sweetheart

Kids Definition

open-heart

adjective

: of, relating to, or done on a heart temporarily stopped and surgically opened for repair of defects or damage

open-heart surgery

Medical Definition

open-heart

adjective

: of, relating to, or performed on a heart temporarily stopped and relieved of circulatory function and surgically opened for repair of defects or damage

open-heart surgery