hypoxia
Americannoun
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Biology. a very low level of oxygen, as in an organic environment.
The fish have developed a tolerance to the hypoxia of the swamp.
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Pathology. an abnormally low amount of oxygen in the body tissues.
Premature newborns are routinely placed in incubators to treat or prevent hypoxia.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hypoxia
First recorded in 1940–45; hyp- ( def. ) + oxy- 2 ( def. ) + -ia ( def. )
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Explanation
When a patient has hypoxia, some area of their body doesn't get enough oxygen. One of the symptoms of hypoxia is discolored skin, which can appear either bluish or bright red. There are many causes of hypoxia, which can affect either the entire body or just specific organs. Premature babies frequently suffer from hypoxia because their lungs are underdeveloped, and both mountain climbers and scuba divers are also at risk of developing hypoxia. When it occurs at high altitudes, hypoxia is called "altitude sickness." Hypoxia was coined in the mid-20th century, from the Greek hypo, "under," and oxygen.
Vocabulary lists containing hypoxia
National Nurses Week: Medical Branches and Conditions
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This Week in Words: July 7 - 13, 2018
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Into Thin Air
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Combined with faster deoxygenation rates, these conditions increase the likelihood of hypoxia events, when oxygen becomes too scarce to support many forms of aquatic life.
From Science Daily • May 17, 2026
Jain's lab has spent years studying hypoxia, the term for reduced oxygen levels in the blood, and its effects on metabolism.
From Science Daily • Feb. 21, 2026
For example, Alabama law states that in death penalty cases, “lethal injection will be administered, unless the prisoner affirmatively chooses nitrogen hypoxia or electrocution.”
From Slate • Aug. 4, 2025
“Emergency room doctors discovered the boy had extremely low blood sugar levels and suffered from hypoxia and constant seizures.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 2, 2025
In hindsight, Andy was acting irrationally and had plainly slipped well beyond routine hypoxia, but I was so mentally impeded myself that it simply didn’t register.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
