Meaning & use
hypertension
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Meaning
noununcountablemedical
A long-term condition in which the force of blood against artery walls stays higher than it should be.
Grammar: Uncountable, no article: he has hypertension.
Patterns
- suffer from hypertension
- treat hypertension
Her doctor put her on medication for hypertension.
Hypertension often causes no symptoms at first.
Eating less salt can help control hypertension.
Common combinations
- high blood pressure/hypertension
- Hypertension is another name for high blood pressure.
- diagnosed with hypertension
- He was diagnosed with hypertension at fifty.
- treat hypertension
- Several drugs treat hypertension.
- pulmonary hypertension
- Pulmonary hypertension affects the lungs.
- risk of hypertension
- Obesity raises the risk of hypertension.
Synonyms and how they differ
- high blood pressure
- The everyday phrase for the same condition, used outside medical writing.
Opposites
Word family
- hypertensive adjective
- relating to or suffering from high blood pressure
- hypotension noun
- abnormally low blood pressure
- tension noun
- tightness or strain
Commonly confused: hypertension or hypotension?
hypertension vs hypotension
Hypotension is low blood pressure; hypertension is high. Hyper- means over, hypo- means under.
Practice
A patient whose blood pressure is persistently too high is said to have ____.
Choose one answer.
Hypertension is high blood pressure. Hypotension is low pressure, hypothermia is low body temperature, and hyperactivity is excess activity.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hypertension”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.