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withdrawal

noun

Simple meaning

A type of metabolic shock the body undergoes when a substance on which a patient is dependent is withheld.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wihthdrawuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

wɪðdˈɹɔəl

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A type of metabolic shock the body undergoes when a substance (such as a drug) on which a patient is dependent is withheld.

  2. Receiving from someone's care what one has earlier entrusted to them. Usually refers to money.

  3. The act of withdrawing blood, tumors, etc.

    “The nurse was expert at the withdrawal of blood.”

  4. The sum of money taken from a bank account.

  5. An act of withdrawing or a state of being withdrawn.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A type of metabolic shock the body undergoes when a substance (such as a drug) on which a patient is dependent is withheld.

Used this way, withdrawal 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.

More ways to use withdrawal

  • “The nurse was expert at the withdrawal of blood.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

social withdrawalalcohol withdrawalcomplete withdrawalbritish withdrawalwithdrawal syndromeimmediate withdrawalisraeli withdrawal

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • withdrawal symptomnounCompound term

    Any physical or psychological disturbance (as sweating or depression) experienced by a drug addict when deprived of the drug.

  • withdrawal methodnounCompound term

    A method of birth control in which coitus is initiated but the penis is deliberately withdrawn before ejaculation.

  • bank withdrawalnounCompound term

    The withdrawal of money from your account at a bank.

  • drug withdrawalnounCompound term

    The termination of drug taking.

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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.