Anesthesia Meaning
/ˌæn.əsˈθiːz.i.ə/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn artificial method of preventing sensation, used to eliminate pain without causing loss of vital functions, by the administration of one or more agents which block pain impulses before transmitted to the brain.
nounThe loss or prevention of sensation, as caused by anesthesia (in the above sense), or by a lesion in the nervous system, or by another physical abnormality.
Sentence Examples
The hospital patient dropped off shortly after the doctor injected him with anesthesia.
He was put under anesthesia.
The patient was placed under general anesthesia before the surgery began.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The surgeon waited for the general ____ to take effect before starting the operation.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Modern ____ allows doctors to perform painless surgery on patients.
Word Origin & History
Sense of “insensibility” attested since 1679, from New Latin anaesthēsia, from Ancient Greek ἀναισθησία (anaisthēsía, “without sensation”), from ἀν- (an-, “not”) and αἴσθησις (aísthēsis, “sensation”). By surface analysis, an- + -esthesia. Sense of “state induced by an agent” attested since 1846.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"In addition, 0.5 ml of 1% lidocaine HCl was injected subcutaneously in the postauricular area for local anesthesia."
— 2015 August 27, “Intracochlear Bleeding Enhances Cochlear Fibrosis and Ossification: An Animal Study”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:
"In some individuals optimism may become quasi-pathological. The capacity for even a transient sadness or a momentary humility seems cut off from them as by a kind of congenital anæsthesia."
— 1902, William James, “Lectures 4 & 5”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The surgeon waited for the general ____ to take effect before starting the operation.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Modern ____ allows doctors to perform painless surgery on patients.