Resuscitation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The procedure aimed at restoring life by reviving an individual who has ceased breathing or has no pulse includes techniques for reestablishing vital functions
2. The act of restoring life or consciousness to an individual who is unresponsive or has experienced cessation of vital functions through various medical techniques
3. The medical process to restore breathing and heartbeat in someone who has stopped responding

Etymology: Latin "resuscitare" meant "to raise up again" or "to revive," built from the prefix "re-" (again) and "suscitare" (to raise up, stir up), itself from "sub-" (up from below) and "citare" (to set in motion, rouse). The Latin verb was used for rising from the dead and for reviving people from faintness, so the sense of bringing someone back from the brink was already there in the ancient world. The word passed into English through Middle English and Old French "ressuscitacion," which came from the Latin noun "resuscitatio." English speakers at first used it mainly in its religious and figurative senses, such as the rising of the dead, before the medical sense of reviving someone who has stopped breathing became dominant. The noun is formed simply by adding the suffix "-ion" to the verb "resuscitate," which tells you it is a process noun: the act of doing the reviving.

Synonyms: revival, restoration, reanimation, resurgence, recovery

Antonyms: death, suspension, deactivation, cessation, quiescence