ablation

American  

[a-blay-shuhn] / æˈbleɪ ʃən /

noun

• ablations
  plural

1. the removal, especially of organs, abnormal growths, or harmful substances, from the body by mechanical means, as by surgery.

2. the reduction in volume of glacial ice, snow, or névé by the combined processes of melting, evaporation, and calving.

3. Aerospace. erosion of the protective outer surface ablator of a spacecraft or missile due to the aerodynamic heating caused by travel at hypersonic speed during reentry through the atmosphere.

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ablation British  

/ æbˈleɪʃən /

noun

1. the surgical removal of an organ, structure, or part

2. the melting or wearing away of an expendable part, such as the heat shield of a space re-entry vehicle on passing through the earth's atmosphere

3. the wearing away of a rock or glacier

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ablation Scientific  

/ ă-blā′shən /

1. The wearing away or destruction of the outer or forward surface of an object, such as a meteorite or a spacecraft, as it moves very rapidly through the atmosphere. The friction of the air striking the object heats and often melts or burns its outer layers. Spacecraft and missiles are often equipped with heat shields designed to wear away by ablation in order to prevent heat from building up in structurally important parts.

2. The process by which snow and ice are removed from a glacier or other mass of ice. Ablation typically occurs through melting, sublimation, wind erosion, or calving.

3. ◆ The ablation zone is the area of a glacier that has the lowest elevation, where annual water loss is greater than the annual accumulation of snow.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ablations
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of ablation

First recorded in 1570–80, ablation is from the Late Latin word ablātiōn- (stem of ablātiō ). See ablate, -ion

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Explanation

An ablation is removing a body part, organ, or tissue surgically. If a doctor takes out one of your kidneys, that's an ablation. This Latinate noun from the little-used verb ablate refers to the surgical removal of tissue from someone's body. This is a general term that applies to the surgical removal of any part of the patient's body. If an oncologist is removing a cancerous growth, that's an ablation. If a limb is being amputated, that's an ablation. If a dentist pulls out a tooth, that's an ablation. The other kind of ablation is also a reduction: the melting of glaciers.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ablation ablations

The 29-year-old's ablation procedure - a minimally invasive operation to correct irregular heart rhythms - took place at Spire Manchester Hospital on Tuesday morning.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

A snowline marks the boundary between a glacier's accumulation zone, where snow builds up and adds mass, and its ablation zone, where melting removes snow and ice.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 12, 2026

The company didn’t detail the investments but said they further reinforce the momentum of its cardiac ablation business.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

Farapulse is a catheter ablation technology using PFA, or pulsed field ablation.

From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026

Like its Soviet predecessors, the Viking landing maneuver involved an ablation shield, a parachute and retro-rockets.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Thirteen years passed between his first and second ablations, and the second was 12 years ago.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2024

Pollard tried medication, and has had three ablations — procedures to try to break up the signals causing the irregular heartbeats.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2024

Although doctors treat most patients with such scarring with invasive ablations, there are always some in whom the treatment fails.

From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 2017

He needed a pacemaker, and he’s undergone three ablations for atrial fibrillation.

From Washington Times ● May 7, 2016

As we came down to the lake in the morning to perform our ablations, we saw a fine deer on the opposite shore, feeding upon the pond lilies that grew along in the shallow water.

From Wild Northern Scenes Sporting Adventures with the Rifle and the Rod by S. H. (Samuel H.) Hammond

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Related Words

• depletion
• depreciation
• erosion

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