Standard Lemma guide

coma

noun · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈkəʊmə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: kōʹmə
  • US: /ˈkoʊmə/
  • rhymes with -əʊmə
  • homophone: comber (non-rhotic)
  • CMU ARPABET: K OW1 M AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A state of unconsciousness from which one may not wake up, usually induced by some form of trauma.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • go into a coma
  • slip into a coma
  • come out of a coma

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A cloud of dust surrounding the nucleus of a comet.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: astronomy, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A defect characterized by diffuse, pear-shaped images that in an ideal image would appear as points.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: engineering, natural-sciences, optics, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A tuft or bunch, such as the assemblage of branches forming the head of a tree, a cluster of bracts when empty and terminating the inflorescence of a plant, or a tuft of long hairs on certain seeds.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a state of deep and often prolonged unconsciousness; usually the result of disease or injury

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: comatoseness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: unconsciousness

Narrower terms: diabetic coma, Kussmaul's coma, hepatic coma

6

noun

Meaning 6

(astronomy) the luminous cloud of particles surrounding the frozen nucleus of a comet; forms as the comet approaches the sun and is warmed

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cloud

7

noun

Meaning 7

(botany) a usually terminal tuft of bracts (as in the pineapple) or tuft of hairs (especially on certain seeds)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: tuft, tussock

History

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κῶμα (kôma, “deep sleep”).

Learned borrowing from Latin coma (“hair of the head”), from Ancient Greek κόμη (kómē, “hair”).

Across languages

Translations

88 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: غَيْبُوبَة (ḡaybūba) — Deep sleep
  • Armenian: կոմա (koma) — Deep sleep
  • Azerbaijani: koma — Deep sleep
  • Belarusian: ко́ма (kóma) — Deep sleep
  • Bulgarian: ко́ма (kóma) — Deep sleep
  • Catalan: coma — Deep sleep
  • Chinese Mandarin: 昏迷 (hūnmí) — Deep sleep
  • Chinese Mandarin: 昏睡 (hūnshuì) — Deep sleep
  • Czech: bezvědomí — Deep sleep
  • Czech: kóma — Deep sleep
  • Danish: koma — Deep sleep
  • Dutch: coma — Deep sleep
  • Esperanto: komato — Deep sleep
  • Estonian: kooma — Deep sleep
  • Faroese: óvit — Deep sleep
  • Finnish: kooma — Deep sleep
  • Finnish: tajuttomuus — Deep sleep
  • French: coma — Deep sleep
  • Galician: coma — Deep sleep
  • Georgian: კომა (ḳoma) — Deep sleep
  • German: Koma — Deep sleep
  • Greek: κώμα (kóma) — Deep sleep
  • Ancient Greek: κῶμα (kôma) — Deep sleep
  • Hebrew: תַּרְדֶּמֶת (tardemet) — Deep sleep
  • Hindi: कोमा (komā) — Deep sleep
  • Hungarian: kóma — Deep sleep
  • Icelandic: dá — Deep sleep
  • Icelandic: svefndá — Deep sleep
  • Icelandic: dauðadá — Deep sleep
  • Indonesian: koma — Deep sleep
  • Italian: coma — Deep sleep
  • Japanese: 昏睡 (konsui) — Deep sleep
  • Kazakh: кома (koma) — Deep sleep
  • Korean: 혼수 (honsu) — Deep sleep
  • Kyrgyz: кома (koma) — Deep sleep
  • Lao: ອະສັນ (ʼa san) — Deep sleep
  • Latin: cōma — Deep sleep
  • Latvian: koma — Deep sleep
  • Lithuanian: koma — Deep sleep
  • Luxembourgish: Koma — Deep sleep
  • Macedonian: ко́ма (kóma) — Deep sleep
  • Māori: mauringaro — Deep sleep
  • Māori: maurimate — Deep sleep
  • Mongolian: ухаангүй (uxaangüj) — Deep sleep
  • Norwegian Bokmål: koma — Deep sleep
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: koma — Deep sleep
  • Persian: کما (komâ) — Deep sleep
  • Polish: śpiączka — Deep sleep
  • Polish: koma — Deep sleep
  • Portuguese: coma — Deep sleep
  • Romanian: comă — Deep sleep
  • Russian: ко́ма (kóma) — Deep sleep
  • Serbo-Croatian: ко̏ма — Deep sleep
  • Serbo-Croatian: kȍma — Deep sleep
  • Slovak: bezvedomie — Deep sleep
  • Slovak: kóma — Deep sleep
  • Slovene: koma — Deep sleep
  • Spanish: coma — Deep sleep
  • Swedish: koma — Deep sleep
  • Tajik: кома (koma) — Deep sleep
  • Tamil: ஆழ்மயக்கம் (āḻmayakkam) — Deep sleep
  • Thai: โคม่า (koh-mâa) — Deep sleep
  • Turkish: koma — Deep sleep
  • Turkmen: koma — Deep sleep
  • Ukrainian: ко́ма (kóma) — Deep sleep
  • Urdu: کوما (komā) — Deep sleep
  • Uzbek: koma — Deep sleep
  • Vietnamese: hôn mê — Deep sleep
  • Welsh: côma — Deep sleep
  • Bulgarian: глава (glava) — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Catalan: cabellera — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Chinese Mandarin: 彗髮 /彗发 (huìfà) — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Czech: koma — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Dutch: coma — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Finnish: huntu — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Finnish: koma — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • French: chevelure — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • French: coma — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Galician: coma — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • German: Koma — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Greek: ουρά (ourá) — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Greek: κόμη (kómi) — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Greek: χαίτη (chaíti) — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Japanese: コマ (koma) — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Polish: koma — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Russian: ко́ма (kóma) — Cloud surrounding a comet nucleus
  • Chinese Mandarin: 彗差 (huìchā) — Defect characterized by diffuse, pear-shaped images
  • Czech: koma — Defect characterized by diffuse, pear-shaped images