emphysema
noun
Simple meaning
An abnormal accumulation of air or other gas in tissues, most commonly the lungs.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehmfuhzeemuhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɛmfəˈzimə
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
pathology
An abnormal accumulation of air or other gas in tissues, most commonly the lungs.
medicine
A chronic lung disease characterised by an abnormal increase in the size of the air spaces, resulting in laboured breathing and caused by exposure to toxic chemicals, most commonly tobacco smoke.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: (pathology) An abnormal accumulation of air or other gas in tissues, most commonly the lungs.
Used this way, emphysema is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A deadly form of gangrene usually caused by clostridium bacteria that produce toxins that cause tissue death.
An abnormal condition of the lungs marked by decreased respiratory function.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: abnormal accumulation of air
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.