ablation
the removal, especially of organs, abnormal growths, or harmful substances, from the body by mechanical means, as by surgery.
the reduction in volume of glacial ice, snow, or névé by the combined processes of melting, evaporation, and calving.: Compare alimentation (def. 3).
Aerospace. erosion of the protective outer surface (ablator ) of a spacecraft or missile due to the aerodynamic heating caused by travel at hypersonic speed during reentry through the atmosphere.
Origin of ablation
1Words that may be confused with ablation
- ablation , ablution
Words Nearby ablation
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use ablation in a sentence
I underwent an endometrial ablation in my 30s, rendering my periods worse than ever.
A New Hysterectomy Procedure Eliminates Massive Scarring and Long Recovery Time. So Why Aren’t More Doctors On Board? | Heather Wilson | March 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBesides being a beacon for sledging parties, it was used for ablation measurements.
The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas MawsonExcessive connective-tissue growth, exceptionally met with, is to be treated by ablation with the scissors or knife.
Essentials of Diseases of the Skin | Henry Weightman StelwagonEach year there must be a very slow sinking of the surface, but the ablation is infinitesimal.
The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays | J. (John) JolyThe fracture of the bones or the ablation of a limb is often observed on animals which have been struck.
Thunder and Lightning | Camille Flammarion
The first step towards this assurance is the ablation of the chronic Shaksperian comparison.
Life of Robert Browning | William Sharp
British Dictionary definitions for ablation
/ (æbˈleɪʃən) /
the surgical removal of an organ, structure, or part
the melting or wearing away of an expendable part, such as the heat shield of a space re-entry vehicle on passing through the earth's atmosphere
the wearing away of a rock or glacier
Origin of ablation
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for ablation
[ ă-blā′shən ]
The wearing away or destruction of the outer or forward surface of an object, such as a meteorite or a spacecraft, as it moves very rapidly through the atmosphere. The friction of the air striking the object heats and often melts or burns its outer layers. Spacecraft and missiles are often equipped with heat shields designed to wear away by ablation in order to prevent heat from building up in structurally important parts.
The process by which snow and ice are removed from a glacier or other mass of ice. Ablation typically occurs through melting, sublimation, wind erosion, or calving.♦ The ablation zone is the area of a glacier that has the lowest elevation, where annual water loss is greater than the annual accumulation of snow.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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