hyperventilate
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (intransitive):
- To breathe at an abnormally rapid rate, especially to the point where the body loses carbon dioxide excessively. This is often a physiological response to stress, anxiety, or high altitude.
- Verb (transitive):
- To cause someone to breathe in this abnormally rapid way; to induce hyperventilation in a person, often as a medical procedure.
Usage and Examples
- Intransitive Verb (describing one's own breathing):
- During the panic attack, she began to hyperventilate and felt dizzy.
- If you hyperventilate at high altitude, it can worsen symptoms of altitude sickness.
- Transitive Verb (causing someone else to breathe rapidly):
- For the test, the doctor will hyperventilate the patient to trigger certain brainwave patterns.
- In some medical scenarios, it is necessary to hyperventilate a sedated patient.
Advanced Usage
- Medical/Clinical Context: The term is used precisely to describe both a pathological symptom and a controlled clinical maneuver.
- The protocol required the technician to hyperventilate the subject for 30 seconds.
- Figurative/Informal Use: Sometimes used informally to describe a state of extreme excitement or anxiety.
- Don't hyperventilate over the details; we'll figure it out. (This is a metaphorical extension.)
Variants and Related Words
- Hyperventilation (noun): The act or condition of hyperventilating.
- Hyperventilation can lead to tingling in the fingers and lightheadedness.
- Hyperventilatory (adjective): Relating to or characterized by hyperventilation.
- The patient exhibited hyperventilatory symptoms.
Synonyms
- Overbreathe: A more literal synonym, though less common in everyday use.
- Breathe rapidly/heavily: A descriptive phrase, though it lacks the specific medical connotation of excessive carbon dioxide loss.
Antonyms
- Breathe normally/steadily: To breathe at a regular, calm rate.
- Hypoventilate: To breathe at an abnormally slow or shallow rate, resulting in insufficient gas exchange.
Verb
- breathe excessively hard and fast
- The mountain climber started to hyperventilate
- produce hyperventilation in
- The nurses had to hyperventilate the patient