Aneurysm

//ˈan.jʊɹ.ɪz.əm// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An abnormal blood-filled swelling of an artery or vein, resulting from a localized weakness in the wall of the vessel.

    "About 120,000 people were helping with the two-week annual harvest and “obviously you’re going to have some accidents”, he said. Every year, “one or two people” died from heart failure or aneurysms, he added."

  2. 2
    a cardiovascular disease characterized by a saclike widening of an artery resulting from weakening of the artery wall wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
aneurismstroke

Example

More examples

"Doctors repaired Healey's aneurysm, but Dr. Rubin explains that when the aneurysm suddenly bursts, the situation becomes a life-or-death emergency."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀνεύρυσμα (aneúrusma, “a widening, a dilation”), from ἀνευρύνω (aneurúnō, “to dilate”), from ἀνά (aná, “up”) + εὐρύς (eurús, “wide”).

Related phrases

mycotic aneurysm

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.