hyperventilate
verb
Did you know?
Hyperventilating can be a response to fear and anxiety. A test pilot who panics and hyperventilates faces a dangerous situation. When the level of carbon dioxide in your blood goes down and the oxygen level goes up, blood vessels constrict because of the chemical changes and the body can't get enough oxygen (even though it's there in the blood), and the pilot can become lightheaded and may even faint. To guard against this, pilots are taught to control their breathing. On the ground, the usual remedy for hyperventilation is breathing into a paper bag, which raises the level of carbon dioxide and restores normal breathing.
Examples of hyperventilate in a Sentence
Howard Yu, Forbes, 15 Oct. 2024
But as the huge company hyperventilates over the landmark decision and the possibility of a Ma Bell-type breakup, many of the marketers that feed the tech titan’s online advertising coffers are maintaining a relative calm.
—Adriana Lee, WWD, 3 Sep. 2019
The first was Tom Weeks, the owner of the hyperventilating dog.
—By Andrew R Chow/granbury, Texas, TIME, 8 July 2024
Directly next door, Tom Weeks’ dog Jack Rabbit Slim started shaking and hyperventilating uncontrollably for hours on end; a vet placed him on the seizure medication Gabapentin.
—By Andrew R Chow/granbury, Texas, TIME, 8 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for hyperventilate 
Dictionary Entries Near hyperventilate
Cite this Entry
“Hyperventilate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hyperventilate. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
hyperventilate
verb
Share