Meaning & use
transfusion
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountablemedical
A medical treatment in which blood or part of blood is put into a patient's body through a vein.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a transfusion or two transfusions.
Patterns
- give someone a transfusion
- need a transfusion
- a blood transfusion
After the accident, she needed an emergency blood transfusion.
The doctor ordered a transfusion to replace the blood he had lost.
Patients with severe anemia often receive regular transfusions.
nouncountable or uncountablemedicaltechnical
The act of putting a liquid, especially blood, from one person or container into another.
Grammar: Often used with of: a transfusion of blood.
Patterns
- transfusion of something
- transfusion into someone
The transfusion of donated blood saved his life.
The nurse monitored the transfusion carefully.
Word forms
| plural | transfusions |
|---|
Common combinations
- blood transfusion
- He received a blood transfusion after surgery.
- give a transfusion
- The hospital gave her a transfusion of two units.
- need a transfusion
- She needs a transfusion because of her low blood count.
- transfusion reaction
- A transfusion reaction can happen if the blood types don't match.
Synonyms and how they differ
- infusion
- Infusion usually means putting fluids, medicine, or nutrients into the body slowly, not whole blood; it is not a synonym for blood transfusion.
- transplant
- Transplant means moving an organ or tissue from one body to another or to a new place; it does not mean giving blood.
Word family
- transfuse verb
- To transfer blood or another fluid into someone's body.
- transfusional adjective
- Relating to a transfusion, as in transfusional medicine.
Commonly confused: transfusion or transmission? transfusion or infusion?
transfusion vs transmission
Transmission means passing something (like a disease or signal) from one person or place to another, while transfusion is specifically putting blood into a patient.
transfusion vs infusion
Infusion is a slow injection of fluids or medicine, not usually blood; a blood transfusion is a specific medical procedure.
Practice
The patient lost a lot of blood during surgery, so the doctor decided to give him a ______.
Choose one answer.
A transfusion is the medical procedure of putting blood into a patient. Transmission refers to passing something like a disease, transplant is for organs, and infusion is for fluids or medicine, not whole blood.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “transfusion”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.