Definition of asphyxia Asphyxia

as•phyx•i•a

We found 7 definitions of asphyxia from 5 different sources.

What does asphyxia mean?

Noun Plural: asphyxias
asphyxia - 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
		physical condition, physiological condition, physiological state the condition or state of the body or bodily functions
		hypoxia oxygen deficiency causing a very strong drive to correct the deficiency

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asphyxia (Noun)
The loss of consciousness due to the interruption of breathing and consequent anoxia. Asphyxia can be result from choking, drowning, electric shock, injury.
asphyxia (Noun)
The 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. Such asphyxia can be result from the inhalation of non-toxic gases which displace oxygen from the inhaled air, by exposure to carbon monoxide from smoke inhalation such that hemoglobin is poisoned, or the development of methemoglobinemia.
asphyxia (Noun)
A condition in which an extreme decrease in the concentration of oxygen in the body leads to loss of consciousness or death. The term is now obsolete, having been replace in mid-twentieth century by the more specific terms anoxia, hypoxia, hypoxemia and hypercapnia.

asphyxia
as-fik′si-a, n. (lit.) suspended animation, suffocation, when the blood is in such a state as to render impossible a sufficiently free exchange of carbonic acid for oxygen—also Asphyx′y.—n. Asphyx′iant, a chemical substance which produces asphyxia.—adj. Asphyx′iāted.—ns. Asphyxiā′tion; Asphyx′iātor. [Gr., a stopping of the pulse—a, neg., sphyxis, the pulse.]