defibrillate

American  

[dee-fahy-bruh-leyt, -fib-ruh-] / diˈfaɪ brəˌleɪt, -ˈfɪb rə- /

verb (used with object)

Medicine/Medical.

defibrillated, defibrillating

1. to arrest the fibrillation of (heart muscle) by applying electric shock across the chest, thus depolarizing the heart cells and allowing normal rhythm to return.

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Other Word Forms

• defibrillation noun

Etymology

Origin of defibrillate

1930–35; de- + fibrillate, back formation from fibrillation

Explanation

To defibrillate is to use a specialized machine that zaps electricity into a person's erratically-beating heart. Doctors and EMTs sometimes have to defibrillate patients having heart attacks. The verb defibrillate comes from defibrillation and its roots, de-, "undo-, and fibrillation, "beating in an abnormal way." So when a patient's heartbeat is dangerously abnormal, doctors will sometimes defibrillate it to shock it back into a normal rhythm. The tool they use to perform this procedure is a defibrillator.

Example Sentences

The now white material was subjected to ultrasonic treatment to defibrillate the pulp at a mycelial level.

From Science Daily • Jan. 8, 2024

"The faster you can get to somebody and have effective CPR and then defibrillate them with an AED the better the outcomes are going to be."

From Salon • Jan. 4, 2023

But players and coaches have insisted all week that the rivalry has provided the jolt they needed to defibrillate a lifeless season.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2021

They come running out, they've got the defibrillator, and a portable cardiac thing, they cut open his shirt, they defibrillate him, it's like clockwork.

From The Guardian • Dec. 14, 2012

Zeman can thank Hong Kong's ambitious efforts to defibrillate an economy that had all but seized during the recent outbreak.

From Time Magazine Archive