Definitions

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

  • noun Death of cells through injury or disease, especially in a localized area of a tissue or organ.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In pathology, the death of a circumscribed piece of tissue.
  • noun In botany, a disease of plants, chiefly found upon the leaves and soft parenchymatous parts.
  • noun A disease of the grape, attributed to Bacillus vitivorus.

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

  • noun (Med.) The pathologic death of part of a tissue due to irreversible damage. Contrast to necrobiosis, which is a normal death of cells in a tissue. Formerly, applied primarily to death of bone tissue.
  • noun (Bot.) A disease of trees, in which the branches gradually dry up from the bark to the center.

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

  • noun pathology The localized death of cells or tissues through injury, disease, or the interruption of blood supply.

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

  • noun the localized death of living cells (as from infection or the interruption of blood supply)

Etymologies

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

[Late Latin necrōsis, a causing to die, killing, from Greek nekrōsis, death, from nekroun, to make dead, from nekros, corpse; see nek- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek νέκρωσις.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word necrosis.

Examples

  • Dr. Detlef Weigel and colleagues found that one mechanism, hybrid necrosis, is associated with a plant defense gene.

    July 10th, 2007 2007

  • As a result, he developed "skin necrosis and abscess formation which required multiple surgical procedures to repair ...." and subsequently sued seeking recovery for those injuries and the replacement cost of his wheelchair.

    Personal Injury 2006

  • As a result, he developed "skin necrosis and abscess formation which required multiple surgical procedures to repair ...." and subsequently sued seeking recovery for those injuries and the replacement cost of his wheelchair.

    Personal Injury 2006

  • As a result, he developed "skin necrosis and abscess formation which required multiple surgical procedures to repair ...." and subsequently sued seeking recovery for those injuries and the replacement cost of his wheelchair.

    Fourth Department 2006

  • The record further establishes that the skin necrosis and abscess, which did not appear until approximately two months after the accident, were not related to any injury plaintiff sustained in the accident, but rather were caused by an ill-fitting replacement wheelchair.

    Fourth Department 2006

  • The record further establishes that the skin necrosis and abscess, which did not appear until approximately two months after the accident, were not related to any injury plaintiff sustained in the accident, but rather were caused by an ill-fitting replacement wheelchair.

    Personal Injury 2006

  • GUPTA: There is a patient here who had significant, what's called necrosis, where parts of her leg had died as a result of crush injury.

    CNN Transcript Jan 18, 2010 2010

  • But there is a patient here who has significant what's called necrosis, where parts of her leg had died as a result of crush injury.

    CNN Transcript Jan 16, 2010 2010

  • The spreading infection resulted in necrosis, which is the deadening of tissues caused by septicemia with its resulting lack of blood flow to organs and tissues.

    Matthew Stein: When a Superbug Strikes Close to Home, How Can You Deal With it? 2009

  • Patients also had complications including hematoma, or internal bleeding, following breast-enlargement surgery, infection, the development of dead tissue known as necrosis, cardiac arrests, breathing problems, pulmonary embolism and other blood clots, and allergic reactions.

    Seeking a Safer Surgery 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.