hemorrhage

American  

[hem-er-ij, hem-rij] / ˈhɛm ər ɪdʒ, ˈhɛm rɪdʒ /

noun

hemorrhages plural

1. a profuse discharge of blood, as from a ruptured blood vessel; bleeding.

2. the loss of assets, especially in large amounts.

3. any widespread or uncontrolled loss or diffusion.

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verb (used without object)

hemorrhaged, hemorrhaging

1. to bleed profusely.

2. to lose assets, especially in large amounts.

verb (used with object)

hemorrhaged, hemorrhaging

1. to lose (assets).

   a company that was hemorrhaging money.

hemorrhage Scientific  

/ hĕm′ər-ĭj /

1. Excessive or uncontrollable bleeding, often caused by trauma, surgical or obstetrical complications, or the advanced stages of certain illnesses, such as cirrhosis and peptic ulcer disease.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hemorrhagic
  adjective
• posthemorrhagic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hemorrhages
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hemorrhage

1665–75; < Latin haemorrhagia < Greek haimorrhagía. See hemo-, -rrhagia

Explanation

Medically speaking, a hemorrhage is a rapid loss of blood. If you fall and hit your head really hard, the doctors will check to see there's no cerebral hemorrhage, or bleeding in your brain. Hemorrhage is pronounced HEM-or-edge. Blame the Greeks for the funny spelling, because like many medical terms, this one comes from Greek roots. Besides the medical meaning, we use hemorrhage to mean the uncontrollable loss of other things. If sudden disaster is making you hemorrhage money, you'll have to cut back on fancy dinners and new shoes. Can I recommend frozen pizza?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hemorrhage hemorrhages hemorrhaged hemorrhaging

It included four dense paragraphs citing evidence of the high risks of sepsis and hemorrhage if the medical team waited to empty her uterus.

From Salon ● May 27, 2026

Misoprostol was initially approved by the FDA for stomach ulcers and is routinely prescribed off-label to induce labor, treat postpartum hemorrhage, and prepare the cervix for IUD insertion.

From Slate ● May 18, 2026

Kikuo Hatakeyama, 72, has served as the mayor of Hachirogata in north-east Japan since 2008, but fell ill in February and suffered a brain hemorrhage.

From BBC ● May 9, 2026

Money continues to hemorrhage, as does the roster of big-name golfers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026

Davey Cantor had said something about a cerebral hemorrhage.

From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok

Certain neurological conditions, including strokes and brain hemorrhages, demand immediate medical attention.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 10, 2026

Monoclonal antibodies that are indicated for the early treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, for example, have a risk of brain hemorrhages and bleeds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026

Acute exposure by inhalation can cause respiratory issues such as difficulty breathing, congestion, edema and lung hemorrhages, while oral ingestion can cause adverse effects in the blood and thyroid.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2025

Fluffy white clouds and red hemorrhages, the work of cytomegalovirus, bloomed across patients’ retinas until they went blind.

From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2025

The patient continued to bleed from the bowels, and these hemorrhages were now as black as pitch.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

The early days were rife with failure and the operation hemorrhaged money.

From Barron's ● May 20, 2026

Now, with LIV’s Saudi backers on the brink of turning off the spigot for a business that has hemorrhaged cash, the future is even murkier.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

However, while the city remains internationally synonymous with movie magic, it has hemorrhaged production jobs to other states and countries that offer generous tax incentives, cheaper labor and more filming-friendly bureaucracies.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2025

The company has secured prime rights for major leagues and competitions across Europe and beyond, though it has hemorrhaged considerable amounts of cash along the way.

From New York Times ● Dec. 4, 2024

They had both hemorrhaged badly, and blood plasma was in short supply our needs being low on the wartime priority list.

From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston

The court documents claim that the former chef suffered severe hemorrhaging again on Feb. 8 and collapsed in her bathroom.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

Waldorf’s sister, Elizabeth Rowe, had almost died of hemorrhaging during childbirth, so the family felt an hourslong drive to Kansas through rural roads without medical support was not an option.

From Salon ● May 27, 2026

Misoprostol has been available by prescription for decades as a treatment for stomach ulcers and to manage postpartum hemorrhaging.

From BBC ● May 1, 2026

Now, after years of hemorrhaging money and struggling to find a meaningful television audience in the U.S.,

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026

First, Mr. Kleiman, our merry sunshine, had another bout of gastrointestinal hemorrhaging yesterday and will have to stay in bed for at least three weeks.

From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank

Related Words

• ooze