decompensation
Americannoun
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Medicine/Medical. the inability of a diseased heart to compensate for its defect.
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Psychology. a loss of ability to maintain normal or appropriate psychological defenses, sometimes resulting in depression, anxiety, or delusions.
noun
Etymology
Origin of decompensation
First recorded in 1900–05; de- + compensation
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.
Medical science now knows that many people living with long-term conditions such as heart, lung and liver diseases are tipped into decompensation and death by the coronavirus.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 19, 2023
This experience taught me that my son’s medical care for schizophrenic decompensation is not a priority call.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 4, 2022
“But what we’re ultimately worried about is heart decompensation and dangerous arrhythmias.”
From Scientific American ● Dec. 2, 2021
As a result, the source said, the patient was “undergoing a quiet decompensation where he just gets sicker and sicker.”
From The New Yorker ● May 2, 2016
The urine was acid, of normal specific gravity, normal in amount, normal phthalein, normal concentration of salt and nitrogen, contained albumin only when he was suffering from decompensation of the heart.
From Arteriosclerosis and Hypertension: with Chapters on Blood Pressure, 3rd Edition. by Warfield, Louis Marshall
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.
