ABLATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ablate mean? 

• ABLATE (verb)
  The verb ABLATE has 2 senses:

1. wear away through erosion or vaporization

2. remove an organ or bodily structure

  Familiarity information: ABLATE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ABLATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they ablate    ... he / she / it ablates   
Past simple: ablated   
Past participle: ablated   
-ing form: ablating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wear away through erosion or vaporization

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "ablate" is one way to...):

wear; wear down; wear off; wear out; wear thin (deteriorate through use or stress)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

ablation (the erosive process that reduces the size of glaciers)

ablative (tending to ablate; i.e. to be removed or vaporized at very high temperature)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Remove an organ or bodily structure

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "ablate" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Domain category:

operation; surgery; surgical operation; surgical procedure; surgical process (a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments; performed to repair damage or arrest disease in a living body)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

ablation (surgical removal of a body part or tissue)

 Context examples 

The administration of high-dose chemotherapy, with or without total body irradiation, to eradicate the underlying disease and/or ablate the immune system of the patient.

(Myeloablative chemotherapy, NCI Thesaurus)

Any mouse strain with a faulty immune system such that its ability to fight infectious disease is compromised or ablated.

(Immunodeficient Mouse, NCI Thesaurus)

Minimally invasive procedure for ablating tumors.

(Focused Ultrasound Therapy, NCI Thesaurus)

Using the retinitis pigmentosa mouse model, the researchers examined the role of C3 and CR3, the central component of complement and its receptor, by comparing mice with genetically ablated C3 or CR3 to mice with normal expression.

(Immune system can slow degenerative eye disease, National Institutes of Health)