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PULSATION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart
Example:
he could feel the beat of her heart
Synonyms:
beat; heartbeat; pulsation; pulse
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("pulsation" is a kind of...):
periodic event; recurrent event (an event that recurs at intervals)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pulsation"):
diastole (the widening of the chambers of the heart between two contractions when the chambers fill with blood)
systole (the contraction of the chambers of the heart (especially the ventricles) to drive blood into the aorta and pulmonary artery)
pounding; throb; throbbing (an instance of rapid strong pulsation (of the heart))
Derivation:
pulsate (expand and contract rhythmically; beat rhythmically)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal electrical state (or a series of such transients)
Example:
the pulsations seemed to be coming from a star
Synonyms:
impulse; pulsation; pulse; pulsing
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural events
Hypernyms ("pulsation" is a kind of...):
undulation; wave ((physics) a movement up and down or back and forth)
Domain category:
electronics (the branch of physics that deals with the emission and effects of electrons and with the use of electronic devices)
Derivation:
pulsate (produce or modulate (as electromagnetic waves) in the form of short bursts or pulses or cause an apparatus to produce pulses)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A periodically recurring phenomenon that alternately increases and decreases some quantity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural phenomena
Hypernyms ("pulsation" is a kind of...):
phenomenon (any state or process known through the senses rather than by intuition or reasoning)
