Standard Lemma guide

fibrillation

noun · 3 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.

  • /ˌfɪbɹɪˈleɪʃən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F IH2 B R IH0 L EY1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The rapid, irregular, and unsynchronized contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

act or process of forming fibrils

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: branching, ramification, fork, forking

3

noun

Meaning 3

muscular twitching involving individual muscle fibers acting without coordination

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: twitch, twitching, vellication

Narrower terms: atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English fibrilla Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin -ātiōlbor. Old French -ationbor. Middle English -acioun English -ation English fibrillation From fibrilla + -ation.

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Basque: fibrilazio — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Bulgarian: фибрилация (fibrilacija) — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Catalan: fibril·lació — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Finnish: fibrillaatio — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Finnish: värinä — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • French: fibrillation — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • German: Fibrillierung — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • German: Fibrillieren — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Greek: μαρμαρυγή (marmarygí) — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Hungarian: fibrilláció — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Italian: fibrillazione — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Malay: pemfibrilan — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Romanian: fibrilație — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Romanian: fibrilare — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Russian: фибрилляция (fibrilljacija) — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart
  • Spanish: fibrilación — contraction of the muscle fibers of the heart