hypertension
noun
Simple meaning
A common disorder in which blood pressure remains abnormally high.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hypertehnshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
haɪpɚˈtɛnʃən
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
medicinecardiology
A common disorder in which blood pressure remains abnormally high (a reading of 140/90 mm Hg or greater)
A state of great (nervous or emotional) tension.
medicinecardiology
A state of abnormally high blood pressure of arterial blood (arterial hypertension) or of the intra-ocular fluid.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- General and technical use
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A common disorder in which blood pressure remains abnormally high (a reading of 140/90 mm Hg or greater)
Used this way, hypertension 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
- Moderate
- 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.
More ways to use hypertension
- “The doctor advised lifestyle changes to manage his hypertension effectively.”
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Persistent and pathological high blood pressure for which no specific cause can be found.
Severe hypertension that runs a rapid course and damages the inner linings of the blood vessels and the heart and spleen and kidneys and brain.
Increase in blood pressure in the veins of the portal system caused by obstruction in the liver (often associated with alcoholic cirrhosis), causing enlargement of the spleen and collateral…
Hypertension that is secondary to another disease.
Temporary rise in blood pressure in the doctor's office.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Keep learning “hypertension” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.
- Practice sentence writingWrite sentences with vocabulary and get instant feedback.
- Practice in contextAnswer short vocabulary questions drawn from real situations.
- Review vocabularyTest your recall and strengthen words over time.
- Practice typingType vocabulary from meanings, examples and other prompts.
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.