colostomy

American  

[kuh-los-tuh-mee] / kəˈlɒs tə mi /

noun

Surgery.

colostomies plural

1. the construction of an artificial opening from the colon through the abdominal wall, thus bypassing a diseased portion of the lower intestine and permitting the passage of intestinal contents.

2. the opening so constructed.

---

colostomy British  

/ kəˈlɒstəmɪ /

noun

1. the surgical formation of an opening from the colon onto the surface of the body, which functions as an anus

---

colostomy Scientific  

/ kə-lŏs′tə-mē /

1. Surgical construction of an opening from the colon through the abdominal wall to the outside of the body for the purpose of excretion.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• colostomies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of colostomy

First recorded in 1885–90; colo- + -stomy

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

colostomy colostomies

She underwent a colostomy operation, where the bowel is diverted out onto the abdomen, in 2020.

From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2023

She had to wear a colostomy bag for several months until she healed.

From Seattle Times ● May 23, 2023

In “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” Matthew Perry gets serious about sobriety, mortality, colostomy bags and pickleball.

From New York Times ● Oct. 24, 2022

She used to use duct tape to secure her colostomy bag.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2022

When the teacher got to her, Whitiker thought about the colostomy bag attached to her patient and started crying.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

She worked a steady stream of surgeries including hernia repairs and colostomies this week.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 20, 2020

“I felt deeply ashamed of that,” said Dr. Marie Crandall, a former trauma surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, remembering shooting victims whose colostomies she was unauthorized to reverse.

From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2016