Diastole

//daɪˈæstəli// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The phase or process of relaxation and dilation of the heart chambers, between contractions, during which they fill with blood; an instance of the process. uncountable, usually

    "[…] I did almoſt beleeve, that the motion of the Heart vvas knovvn to God alone: For neither could I rightly diſtinguiſh, vvhich vvay the Diaſtole and Systole came to be, nor vvhen nor vvhere the dilation and conſtriction had its exiſtence."

  2. 2
    the widening of the chambers of the heart between two contractions when the chambers fill with blood wordnet
  3. 3
    The lengthening of a vowel or syllable beyond its typical length. uncountable, usually

    "1815 March and June, On the Greek and Latin Accents, The Classical Journal, Volume XI, page 81, I have inserted diastole which is omitted in Putschius, an insertion which both the complement, and the subsequent text make necessary."

  4. 4
    The hypodiastole, a textual or punctuation mark formerly used to disambiguate homonyms in Greek. Greek, uncountable, usually

Synonyms

All synonyms
arsisbeatbloatbloatednessbloatingblowing up

Example

More examples

"[…] I did almoſt beleeve, that the motion of the Heart vvas knovvn to God alone: For neither could I rightly diſtinguiſh, vvhich vvay the Diaſtole and Systole came to be, nor vvhen nor vvhere the dilation and conſtriction had its exiſtence."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek διαστολή (diastolḗ, “separation, drawing asunder”), from διά (diá, “apart”) + στέλλειν (stéllein, “send”).

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