Meaning & use
pulse rate
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablemedical
The number of times your heart beats in one minute, which you can feel as a throb in an artery such as the one at your wrist.
Grammar: Usually singular with the: her pulse rate was normal.
Patterns
- a pulse rate of something
- take someone's pulse rate
The nurse checked my pulse rate before the operation.
Your pulse rate rises when you exercise.
A resting pulse rate of sixty beats a minute is typical for a fit adult.
Word forms
| plural | pulse rates |
|---|
Common combinations
- resting pulse rate
- Her resting pulse rate dropped after months of running.
- check your pulse rate
- You can check your pulse rate with two fingers on your wrist.
- a high pulse rate
- A high pulse rate may signal fever or anxiety.
- raise the pulse rate
- Coffee can raise the pulse rate slightly.
- slow pulse rate
- Athletes often have a slow pulse rate.
Synonyms and how they differ
- heart rate
- Heart rate is the more common modern term and can be measured by a device, while pulse rate stresses what you feel at an artery.
- pulse
- Pulse alone can mean the beat itself, so it is less precise than pulse rate, which names the speed.
- heartbeat
- Heartbeat refers to a single beat or the general sound, whereas pulse rate is the count per minute.
Word family
Commonly confused: pulse rate or blood pressure?
pulse rate vs blood pressure
Blood pressure is the force of blood against vessel walls, not the number of beats per minute.
Practice
After the sprint, the coach told us to measure our ___ for fifteen seconds.
Choose one answer.
Counting beats over a short time gives your pulse rate. Blood pressure needs a cuff and is a different measurement.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pulse rate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.