Word.ws English Dictionary

defibrillate

/diːˈfɪbɹɪleɪt/

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

Verb

defibrillate (third-person singular simple present defibrillates, present participle defibrillating, simple past and past participle defibrillated)

  1. (transitive) To stop the fibrillation of the heart in order to restore normal contractions, especially by the use of an electric shock.
    • Dynamic typography reinvigorates the storytelling genre by anthropomorphizing fonts, defibrillating calligraphy, creating rhythmic, ambient moodscapes without sacrificing speed or lushness.1999, Artbyte, volume 2
    • Though occasionally a “flatliner” can be revived with a defib, it is most commonly used to change the uncoordinated contractions of the heart (fibrillation) into a normal sinus rhythm—that is, to defibrillate the heart.2011, Laurence Street, Introduction to Biomedical Engineering Technology, page 125

Forms of defibrillate

third-person singular presentdefibrillates
present participledefibrillating
past participledefibrillated
pastdefibrillated

Origin of defibrillate

From de- + fibrillate.

Words formed from defibrillate

Questions about defibrillate

What does defibrillate mean?
Defibrillate means to stop the fibrillation of the heart in order to restore normal contractions, especially by the use of an electric shock.
What part of speech is defibrillate?
Defibrillate is a verb.
How do you pronounce defibrillate?
Defibrillate is pronounced /diːˈfɪbɹɪleɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of defibrillate?
The past tense of defibrillate is defibrillated.

Words near defibrillate in the dictionary

  1. defibrator
  2. defibrators
  3. defibre
  4. defibred
  5. defibres
  6. defibrillate
  7. defibrillated
  8. defibrillates
  9. defibrillating
  10. defibrillation
  11. defibrillations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: defibrillate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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