Meaning & use
arrhythmia
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable or uncountablemedicaltechnical
A condition in which the heart beats with an unusual rate or rhythm.
Grammar: Countable when naming one episode or type (an arrhythmia, several arrhythmias); uncountable when talking about the condition in general.
Patterns
- have an arrhythmia
- treat an arrhythmia
- a type of arrhythmia
The doctor said the dizziness was caused by an arrhythmia.
She was born with a mild arrhythmia that needs checking once a year.
Untreated arrhythmia can sometimes lead to more serious heart problems.
nouncountabletechnicalspecialist
Any irregular pattern in a repeating activity, such as a heartbeat, brain wave, or rhythm.
Grammar: Used in technical writing about signals, music, or sleep studies; usually countable here.
Patterns
- an arrhythmia in something
- detect an arrhythmia
The software looks for arrhythmias in the recorded brain signals.
Sleep researchers noted an arrhythmia in the patient's breathing pattern.
Word forms
| plural | arrhythmias |
|---|
Common combinations
- cardiac arrhythmia
- He was admitted to hospital with a cardiac arrhythmia.
- a common arrhythmia
- Atrial fibrillation is a common arrhythmia in older adults.
- suffer from arrhythmia
- Some athletes suffer from arrhythmia without knowing it.
- diagnose an arrhythmia
- The monitor helped the team diagnose an arrhythmia quickly.
- a dangerous arrhythmia
- A dangerous arrhythmia can stop the heart from pumping properly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- irregular heartbeat
- Everyday wording rather than a medical term, and it describes the symptom rather than the diagnosed condition.
- dysrhythmia
- A near-equivalent medical term, used especially in some nursing and physiology texts; arrhythmia is far more common.
Word family
- arrhythmic adjective
- Relating to or showing an irregular rhythm, as in 'an arrhythmic pulse'.
Commonly confused: arrhythmia or arrhythmia vs. arrhythmia? arrhythmia or rhythm?
arrhythmia vs arrhythmia vs. arrhythmia
Learners sometimes misspell it with a single 'r' or write 'arythmia'; remember ar- + rhythm + -ia, keeping the 'h' from 'rhythm'.
arrhythmia vs rhythm
Rhythm is the regular pattern itself; arrhythmia is the lack of that regular pattern, mainly used in medicine.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'arrhythmia' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Arrhythmia' means an irregular heartbeat, so it fits a heart monitor. The piano and dance options treat it as a piece of music or a rhythm quality, and the pharmacy option treats it as a medicine, which it is not.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “arrhythmia”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.