Resuscitate

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈsʌsɪˌteɪt/

Definitions

1. To revive someone from unconsciousness or apparent death by restoring breathing and circulation
2. To restore vital signs and consciousness in an individual who appears lifeless or unresponsive through medical techniques and interventions
3. To bring back to life or consciousness an individual who is unresponsive or in a state resembling death by employing various medical methods and procedures

Etymology: Before it became a medical term, "resuscitate" meant something closer to reviving a fire or a hope. The Latin "resuscitare" combined "re-", meaning "again", with "suscitare", "to raise up", and the older "suscitare" itself was built from "sub-", meaning "up" or "under", and "citare", "to summon or rouse". So at its root the word is a double act of waking: something is roused from below and then raised a second time. English took the word in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with a broad sense of bringing something back to life or vigour, whether a person, a custom, or a dying flame. Its association with lifeless bodies and emergency care came later, as resuscitation techniques were developed for drowning victims and others who had stopped breathing, and the word narrowed to the specific medical rescue it describes today.

Synonyms: revive, restore, reanimate

Antonyms: kill, terminate