anaesthesia
Americannoun
noun
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local or general loss of bodily sensation, esp of touch, as the result of nerve damage or other abnormality
-
loss of sensation, esp of pain, induced by drugs: called general anaesthesia when consciousness is lost and local anaesthesia when only a specific area of the body is involved
-
a general dullness or lack of feeling
Other Word Forms
- anaesthetic adjective
- anaesthetist noun
- semianaesthetic adjective
Etymology
Origin of anaesthesia
C19: from New Latin, from Greek anaisthēsia absence of sensation, from an- + aisthēsis feeling
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.
The research, published in the journal Music and Medicine, offers some of the strongest evidence yet that music played during general anaesthesia can modestly but meaningfully reduce drug requirements and improve recovery.
From BBC • Nov. 24, 2025
She is under general anaesthesia: unconscious, insensate and rendered completely still by a blend of drugs that induce deep sleep, block memory, blunt pain and temporarily paralyse her muscles.
From BBC • Nov. 24, 2025
To understand why the researchers turned to music, it helps to decode the modern practice of anaesthesia.
From BBC • Nov. 24, 2025
But its entry into the intensely technical, machine-governed world of anaesthesia marks a quiet shift.
From BBC • Nov. 24, 2025
Come back around 5 o’clock, he had said, when Finny should be coming out of the anaesthesia.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
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.
