Meaning & use
resuscitate
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Meanings
verbtransitivemedical
To bring someone back from unconsciousness or near death, especially by restoring their breathing or heartbeat.
Grammar: Takes a person as the object: resuscitate the patient.
Patterns
- resuscitate someone
- try to resuscitate someone
Paramedics worked for twenty minutes to resuscitate the swimmer.
The lifeguard was trained to resuscitate children.
Doctors managed to resuscitate him after his heart stopped.
verbtransitivefigurative
To give new life or energy to something that has faded or failed, such as a business or tradition.
Grammar: Used figuratively with things: resuscitate the economy.
Patterns
- resuscitate something
The new owners hoped to resuscitate the failing restaurant.
The festival was resuscitated after a ten-year break.
Cheap flights helped resuscitate the town's tourism.
Word forms
| third person singular | resuscitates |
|---|---|
| past tense | resuscitated |
| past participle | resuscitated |
| -ing form | resuscitating |
Common combinations
- resuscitate a patient
- The doctor tried to resuscitate the patient.
- attempt to resuscitate
- Rescuers attempted to resuscitate the climber.
- successfully resuscitated
- The baby was successfully resuscitated.
- resuscitate the economy
- The government hoped to resuscitate the economy.
- resuscitate a career
- The role helped resuscitate her career.
Synonyms and how they differ
- revive
- Revive is the everyday word and works for people, plants and ideas, while resuscitate is more medical or formal.
- resurrect
- Resurrect suggests bringing back from true death or disuse and has a dramatic or religious tone.
- rejuvenate
- Rejuvenate means to make something feel young or fresh again, not to bring it back from collapse.
- reanimate
- Reanimate is rarer and sounds more scientific or fictional.
Opposites
Word family
- resuscitation noun
- the act of reviving someone
- resuscitator noun
- a device or person that revives
- resuscitative adjective
- able to revive
- CPR abbreviation
- short for cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Commonly confused: resuscitate or resurrect?
resuscitate vs resurrect
Resurrect means to raise from the dead or bring something long gone back into use, while resuscitate means to revive someone who has only just stopped breathing or lost consciousness.
Practice
After the swimmer was pulled from the pool, the lifeguard began to ___ him.
Choose one answer.
Resuscitate means to bring someone back by restoring breathing; reinstate means to restore a position, reiterate means to repeat, and resist means to fight against.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “resuscitate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.