Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An abnormal, blood-filled sac formed by dilation of the wall of a blood vessel or heart ventricle, most commonly the abdominal aorta and intracranial arteries, resulting from disease or trauma to the wall, as in atherosclerosis.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a sac-like widening of a blood vessel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun pathology An abnormal blood-filled swelling of an artery or vein, resulting from a localized weakness in the wall of the vessel.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cardiovascular disease characterized by a saclike widening of an artery resulting from weakening of the artery wall

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English aneurisme, ultimately from Greek aneurusma, from aneurein, to dilate : ana-, throughout; see ana– + eurus, wide.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ἀνεύρυσμα (aneurysma, "a widening, an opening"), from ἀνά (ana, "up") + εὐρύς (eurys, "wide").

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