cyanotic

American  

[sahy-uh-not-ik] / ˌsaɪ əˈnɒt ɪk /

adjective

Pathology.

1. (of the skin) blue or livid due to inadequately oxygenated blood.

   Certain heart defects cause a mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood, so that the patient will often exhibit a cyanotic or bluish color.

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Other Word Forms

• hypercyanotic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of cyanotic

First recorded in 1820–30; from Greek kýano(s) “dark blue” + -tic ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cyanotic

"The patient became cyanotic with blue lips, movements stopped, the muscles relaxed, deep breathing followed, cyanosis waned, and color returned to the lips as the patient was moved to a recovery room."

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2023

“I jumped the barricade and found a girl who was passed out, supine and very clearly cyanotic, or blue,” said Morbidelli, a graduate student at Auburn University in Alabama.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2021

The man I beheld was a short, shriveled seventy-two-year-old with a greasy sheen of perspiration coating his brow, an alarmingly cyanotic complexion, and the generalized muscle wasting of the chronically ill.

From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2019

Women with certain heart conditions -- including severe heart failure, cyanotic heart defects and Eisenmenger's -- are considered to be at high risk of complications.

From Reuters ● Sep. 23, 2010

His lips were cyanotic, one side of his face was bruised and scraped.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin