analgesia
/ˌæn.əlˈd͡ʒiː.zi.ə/
analgesia means the inability to feel pain. It carries an Arena rating of 1504, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, analgesia ranks #2,130 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,881 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #3,579 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,736 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
analgesia is pronounced /ˌæn.əlˈd͡ʒiː.zi.ə/.
Why “analgesia” is a great word
A state in which the sensation of pain is absent, or temporarily reduced. From New Latin analgesia, from Ancient Greek ἀναλγησίᾱ (analgēsíā, 'insensibility to pain'), from ἀν- (an-, 'not') + ἀλγέω (algéō, 'to feel pain, to suffer') + -σίᾱ (-síā, noun-forming suffix), first attested in English in the early 18th century. Unlike anesthesia, which suspends all sensation for the surgeon’s art, or narcosis, which drowns consciousness in a deeper stupor, analgesia is a scalpel's precision: the selective silencing of pain alone. It is the morphine drip that lets the burn victim still feel her daughter's hand; the ibuprofen that leaves the headache gone but the sunlight still sharp against the window; the epidural that holds back the tidal pressure of labor while the mother's eyes stay open. This is not escape—it is a negotiated truce with suffering that keeps the self intact, the body permitted to continue without its alarm bell ringing.
Etymology
From New Latin analgēsia, from Ancient Greek ἀναλγησίᾱ (analgēsíā, “want of feeling, insensibility”), from ἀνάλγητος (análgētos), from ἀν- (an-, “not”) + ἀλγέω (algéō, “feel bodily pain, suffer”) + -τος (-tos, adjectival suffix).
noun
- The inability to feel pain.e.g.“epidural analgesia”
- A process of temporarily reducing the ability to feel pain; the provision of this service.e.g.“This office procedure is quick and straightforward, but it does require some analgesia.”
- A medication that performs this action: one that relieves pain.e.g.“apply an analgesia”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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