apnea
Americannoun
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a temporary suspension of breathing, occurring in some newborns and adults during sleep.
-
asphyxia; suffocation.
Other Word Forms
- apneic adjective
Etymology
Origin of apnea
First recorded in 1710–20; from New Latin apnoea, from Greek ápnoia, from ápno(os) “breathless” (from a- a- 6 + pno-, variant stem of pneîn “to breathe” + -os, adjective suffix) + -ia -ia
Explanation
Apnea is a disorder that causes you to stop breathing briefly, often while you're asleep. One symptom of this kind of apnea is excessive snoring. The most common type of apnea is "sleep apnea," which affects both adults and children and can result in as many as 30 breathless episodes per night. Many people with this kind of apnea don't know they have it. Scientifically, any instance of not breathing is considered apnea — whether you're holding your breath or being choked. The Greek root of apnea is apnos, "without breathing," from a-, "not," and pnein, "to breathe."
Vocabulary lists containing apnea
National Nurses Week: Medical Branches and Conditions
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The Body Eclectic: Words For Common Physical Functions
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Daughter of the Deep
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Solriamfetol, the drug evaluated in this study, is already approved for treating excessive sleepiness in people with obstructive sleep apnea and narcolepsy.
From Science Daily • Apr. 1, 2026
Her requests for coverage have been denied, despite a diagnosis of sleep apnea.
From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026
The drug is also approved to help treat moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026
By his final year on the job, his doctor told him he was dealing with prediabetes, fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome, sleep apnea, acid reflux, and obesity.
From Salon • Feb. 18, 2026
Berkner suggests that there may have been cycles of oxygen production and carbon dioxide consumption, depending on relative abundances of plant and animal life, with the ice ages representing periods of apnea.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
