Asphyxia

//æzˈfɪksiə// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Loss of consciousness due to the interruption of breathing and consequent anoxia. countable, uncountable

    "Asphyxia may result from choking, drowning, electric shock, or injury."

  2. 2
    a condition in which insufficient or no oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged on a ventilatory basis; caused by choking or drowning or electric shock or poison gas wordnet
  3. 3
    Loss of consciousness due to the body's inability to deliver oxygen to its tissues, either by the breathing of air lacking oxygen or by the inability of the blood to carry oxygen. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A condition in which an extreme decrease in the concentration of oxygen in the body leads to loss of consciousness or death. Replaced in the mid-20th century by the more specific terms anoxia, hypoxia, hypoxemia and hypercapnia. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "Hypoxaemia [...is] a deficient oxygenation of the blood; asphyxia from defective oxygenation of the blood."

Synonyms

All synonyms
suffocationapneaapneaasphyxiationchokechoking

Example

More examples

"Asphyxia may result from choking, drowning, electric shock, or injury."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from New Latin asphyxia, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀσφυξία (asphuxía, “stopping of the pulse”).

Related phrases

positional asphyxiapostural asphyxia

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