Standard Lemma guide

defibrillate

verb · 2 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: /diːˈfɪbɹɪleɪt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To stop the fibrillation of the heart in order to restore normal contractions, especially by the use of an electric shock.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Topics: cardiology, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

stop the fibrillation and restore normal contractions, usually by means of electric shocks

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • The patient's heart had to be defibrillated to save his life

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: restore, reconstruct

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h1 Proto-Indo-European *déh1 Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē-der. English de- English fibrillate English defibrillate From de- + fibrillate.

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 除顫 /除颤 (chúchàn) — to stop cardiac fibrillation
  • Chinese Mandarin: 去顫 /去颤 (qùchàn) — to stop cardiac fibrillation
  • Finnish: defibrilloida — to stop cardiac fibrillation
  • French: défibriller — to stop cardiac fibrillation
  • German: defibrillieren — to stop cardiac fibrillation
  • Romanian: defibrila — to stop cardiac fibrillation
  • Russian: дефибрилли́ровать (defibrillírovatʹ) — to stop cardiac fibrillation
  • Welsh: diffibrilio — to stop cardiac fibrillation