apnea
Americannoun
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apneas
plural
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a temporary suspension of breathing, occurring in some newborns and adults during sleep.
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asphyxia; suffocation.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of apnea
First recorded in 1710–20; from New Latin apnoea, from Greek ápnoia, from ápno(os) “breathless” (from a- a- 6 + pno-, variant stem of pneîn “to breathe” + -os, adjective suffix) + -ia -ia
Explanation
Apnea is a disorder that causes you to stop breathing briefly, often while you're asleep. One symptom of this kind of apnea is excessive snoring. The most common type of apnea is "sleep apnea," which affects both adults and children and can result in as many as 30 breathless episodes per night. Many people with this kind of apnea don't know they have it. Scientifically, any instance of not breathing is considered apnea — whether you're holding your breath or being choked. The Greek root of apnea is apnos, "without breathing," from a-, "not," and pnein, "to breathe."
Vocabulary lists containing apnea
National Nurses Week: Medical Branches and Conditions
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The Body Eclectic: Words For Common Physical Functions
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Daughter of the Deep
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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:
A once-nightly oral medication significantly improved obstructive sleep apnea in a large phase 3 clinical trial presented at the 2026 ATS International Conference.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 1, 2026
Physiological stress, such as consistent sleep deprivation from sleep apnea, not eating enough calories, or excessive exercise can result in a low testosterone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
But, importantly, the program doesn’t cover the medication for patients who’d be eligible for a GLP-1 under existing Medicare Part D benefits—for conditions like Type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, and fatty liver disease.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Until this week, Medicare only covered GLP-1 drugs for conditions like Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and stroke or heart-attack risk.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Berkner suggests that there may have been cycles of oxygen production and carbon dioxide consumption, depending on relative abundances of plant and animal life, with the ice ages representing periods of apnea.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
"When placed on the suprasternal notch, the enhanced ability to detect and classify apneas could lead to more targeted and personalized care, improved outcomes and reduced length of hospitalization and costs," Shalish said.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2023
Particularly common in premature babies, apneas are a leading cause of prolonged hospitalization and potentially death.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2023
We have thus shown that our breathing during sleep reflects how we breathe in our dreams; the periods spent underwater corresponded to remarkable apneas of the sleepers!
From Scientific American ● Jun. 5, 2023
We need our tracheas to stay open while we recline, lest we suffer apneas and struggle to breath during slumber.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2022
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.
