verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   Of a tissue, structure, or part of an organ: to protrude through the muscular tissue or the membrane by which it is normally contained, causing a hernia. intransitive

   "When the small intestine herniates into the groin, one has an inguinal hernia."

Example

More examples

"When the small intestine herniates into the groin, one has an inguinal hernia."

Etymology

From hernia + -ate. By surface analysis, herni- + -ate.

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