defibrillate
Americanverb (used with object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of defibrillate
1930–35; de- + fibrillate, back formation from fibrillation
Explanation
To defibrillate is to use a specialized machine that zaps electricity into a person's erratically-beating heart. Doctors and EMTs sometimes have to defibrillate patients having heart attacks. The verb defibrillate comes from defibrillation and its roots, de-, "undo-, and fibrillation, "beating in an abnormal way." So when a patient's heartbeat is dangerously abnormal, doctors will sometimes defibrillate it to shock it back into a normal rhythm. The tool they use to perform this procedure is a defibrillator.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In 2022, as part of the lead-up to “Top Gun: Maverick,” the blockbuster that would defibrillate the pandemic box office, Cruise received an honorary Palme d’Or and a salute from eight zipping French jets.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
The now white material was subjected to ultrasonic treatment to defibrillate the pulp at a mycelial level.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 8, 2024
"The faster you can get to somebody and have effective CPR and then defibrillate them with an AED the better the outcomes are going to be."
From Salon ● Jan. 4, 2023
They come running out, they've got the defibrillator, and a portable cardiac thing, they cut open his shirt, they defibrillate him, it's like clockwork.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 14, 2012
The "kids with beards," as Billy Wilder called the Brat Generation, have become the Establishment, turned 50 and watched as younger, hungrier directors tried to defibrillate the nearly comatose cinema muse.
From Time Magazine Archive
The coroner gave a narrative conclusion, saying David probably would not have died had an ambulance arrived on time and if he had been defibrillated.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
He was administered CPR, defibrillated and transported by ambulance to a hospital.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2023
“Did it change our friendship? Yeah,” said Odenkirk, who had to be defibrillated three times and went 18 minutes without a regular heartbeat.
From New York Times ● Jul. 8, 2022
Being defibrillated is like swallowing an angry, stubborn mule.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2012
February is an unalloyed joy for me: the pink satin, cheap chocolates in specially defibrillated cardiac boxes and armfuls of roses to die slowly on top of my telly while their water turns septic.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 20, 2011
As Tuipulotu threw down quarterback Jack Plummer for his second sack, USC seemed well on its way to defibrillating its lifeless defense.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2022
Eventually, my ER doctor, who looked like the Eastern European love child of Danny DeVito and Newman from “Seinfeld,” ordered a cardioversion, which involves defibrillating the heart back to a normal rhythm.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2012
Dismayed by this lingering antipathy, I retreated to the local diner for a psychologically defibrillating chocolate milkshake.
From New York Times ● Aug. 27, 2010
Nixon's plane, The Spirit of '76, carries a miniclinic, including a defibrillating machine for use in case of a heart attack, blood plasma and a tracheotomy set.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
