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.

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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

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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.

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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

The 43-year-old had to have a colostomy after suffering a fourth degree tear during the birth of her son in 2011.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2023

Another resident did not have her colostomy bag attached.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 28, 2023

He spent five months in the hospital and nine months with a colostomy bag.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 29, 2022

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

I pictured a handsome French doctor explaining the standard colostomy procedure, and then I disappointed the woman at the gate by pulling out my wallet.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

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