anaesthesia

[an-uh s-thee-zhuh] /ˌæn əsˈθi ʒə/
noun, Medicine/Medical, Pathology
1.
anesthesia.
Related forms
anaesthetic
[an-uh s-thet-ik] /ˌæn əsˈθɛt ɪk/ (Show IPA), adjective, noun
anaesthetist
[uh-nes-thi-tist or, esp. British, uh-nees-] /əˈnɛs θɪ tɪst or, esp. British, əˈnis-/ (Show IPA), noun
semianaesthetic, adjective

anesthetic

[an-uh s-thet-ik] /ˌæn əsˈθɛt ɪk/
noun
1.
a substance that produces anesthesia, as halothane, procaine, or ether.
adjective
2.
pertaining to or causing physical insensibility:
an anesthetic gas.
3.
physically insensitive:
Halothane is used to produce an anesthetic state.
Also, anaesthetic.
Origin
1840-50, Americanism; < Greek anaísthēt(os) without feeling, senseless + -ic; see an-1, esthetic
Related forms
anesthetically, adverb
nonanesthetic, adjective, noun
postanesthetic, adjective
semianesthetic, adjective
Examples from the web for anaesthetic
  • The anaesthetic drugs specified are going out of fashion and there fore becoming in short supply.
  • Hopefully, my dental surgeon will change his mind about the local anaesthetic.
  • We went to the wards put people on stretchers, wheeled them to the anaesthetic room.
  • As the plan is to administer the anaesthetic while the patient sleeps, it is no wonder that failure attends the effort.
  • The walk could become a phantom biopsy, cutting out a sample of diseased tissue without an anaesthetic.
  • The medics carried out experiments on humans, including vivisection without anaesthetic.
  • It is injected by a nurse with an intimidating syringe under a local anaesthetic.
  • One of his earliest memories was being taken to the dentist, who performed a tonsillectomy on him without anaesthetic.
  • Life-saving surgery without anaesthetic is what is needed.
  • The others were told that they'd been given lidocaine, an anaesthetic.
British Dictionary definitions for anaesthetic

anaesthetic

/ˌænɪsˈθɛtɪk/
noun
1.
a substance that causes anaesthesia
adjective
2.
causing or characterized by anaesthesia

anaesthesia

/ˌænɪsˈθiːzɪə/
noun
1.
local or general loss of bodily sensation, esp of touch, as the result of nerve damage or other abnormality
2.
loss of sensation, esp of pain, induced by drugs: called general anaesthesia when consciousness is lost and local anaesthesia when only a specific area of the body is involved
3.
a general dullness or lack of feeling
Word Origin
C19: from New Latin, from Greek anaisthēsia absence of sensation, from an- + aisthēsis feeling

anesthetic

/ˌænɪsˈθɛtɪk/
noun, adjective
1.
the usual US spelling of anaesthetic
Word Origin and History for anaesthetic
adj.

1846, "insensible," from Greek anaisthetos "insensate, without feeling; senseless, stupid" (see anaesthesia). Noun meaning "agent that produces anesthesia" first used in modern sense 1848 by Scottish doctor James Young Simpson (1811-1870), discoverer of the surgical uses of chloroform.

anaesthesia

n.

1721, "loss of feeling," Modern Latin, from Greek anaisthesia "want of feeling, lack of sensation (to pleasure or pain)," from an- "without" (see an- (1)) + aisthesis "feeling," from PIE root *au- "to perceive" (see audience). As "a procedure for the prevention of pain in surgical operations," from 1846.

anesthetic

adj.

alternative spelling of anaesthetic (q.v.). See ae.

anaesthetic in Medicine

anesthetic an·es·thet·ic (ān'ĭs-thět'ĭk)
n.
An agent that reversibly depresses neuronal function, producing total or partial loss of sensation. adj.

  1. Characterized by the loss of sensation.

  2. Capable of producing a loss of sensation.

  3. Associated with or due to the state of anesthesia.

an'es·thet'i·cal·ly adv.
anaesthetic in Science
anesthetic
  (ān'ĭs-thět'ĭk)   
A drug that temporarily depresses neuronal function, producing total or partial loss of sensation with or without the loss of consciousness.
anaesthetic in Culture
anesthetic [(an-is-thet-ik)]

A substance that causes loss of sensation or consciousness. With the aid of an anesthetic, people can undergo surgery without pain. (See general anesthetic and local anesthetic.)