oxygen mask

American  

noun

oxygen masks plural

1. a masklike device placed or worn over the nose and mouth when inhaling supplementary oxygen from an attached tank.

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oxygen mask British  

noun

1. a device, worn over the nose and mouth, to which oxygen is supplied from a cylinder or other source: used to aid breathing

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• oxygen masks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of oxygen mask

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

Reminding us of the messy yet necessary work of grassroots activism, the play administered the equivalent of a political oxygen mask.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026

First, you need to put on your own oxygen mask before you give $5,000 oxygen masks to each of your family members.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 3, 2026

“To be clear: had I not donned my oxygen mask on that July flight, we would have killed every person on that aircraft,” Tellman wrote in a letter to his union detailing the experience.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025

TV images showed Katoa being fitted with an oxygen mask and put on a stretcher.

From Barron's • Nov. 3, 2025

Then an oxygen mask covers my entire face.

From "Paradise on Fire" by Jewell Parker Rhodes