PULSATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pulsation mean? 

• PULSATION (noun)
  The noun PULSATION has 3 senses:

1. (electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal electrical state (or a series of such transients)

2. a periodically recurring phenomenon that alternately increases and decreases some quantity

3. the rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart

  Familiarity information: PULSATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PULSATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal electrical state (or a series of such transients)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

impulse; pulsation; pulse; pulsing

Context example:

the pulsations seemed to be coming from a star

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 2

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)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

beat; heartbeat; pulsation; pulse

Context example:

he could feel the beat of her heart

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)

 Context examples 

The combination of their pulsation periods and known luminosity allowed the scientists to determine their location with the high accuracy of between 3 to 5 percent.

(Scientists Say Milky Way Is Warped & Twisted Not Flat, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

In addition, the NuSTAR telescope can measure rapid X-ray pulsations with fine precision.

(Pulse of a Dead Star Powers Intense Gamma Rays, NASA)

Isometheptene is an indirect-acting sympathomimetic agent with vasoconstricting activity, thereby reducing the pulsation in cerebral arteries by constricting dilated cerebral blood vessels.

(Isometheptene/Dichloralphenazone/Acetaminophen, NCI Thesaurus)

I know no weariness of my Edward's society: he knows none of mine, any more than we each do of the pulsation of the heart that beats in our separate bosoms; consequently, we are ever together.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It usually occurs in males and is characterized by fatigue in the hips, thighs, or calves on exercising, absence of pulsation in the femoral arteries, impotence, and often pallor and coldness of the lower limbs.

(Leriche Syndrome, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)