ablation

From Late Middle English ablacioun (“removal”), from Late Latin ablātiō (“a taking away”), from auferō (“to take away, carry off, withdraw, remove”) +‎ -tiō (“-tion”, nominal suffix); equivalent to ablate +‎ -ion. Doublet of ablatio. Compare French ablation.

• enPR: ə-blā'-shən, ăb-lā'-shən IPA^(key): /əˈbleɪ.ʃn̩/, /æbˈleɪ.ʃn̩/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (Canada):

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

ablation (countable and uncountable, plural ablations)

1. (obsolete) A carrying or taking away; removal. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]^[1]
3. (surgery) The surgical removal of a body part, an organ, or especially a tumor; the removal of an organ function; amputation. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]^[1]
4. (sciences) The progressive removal of material by any of a variety of processes such as melting or vaporization under heat or chipping. [Mid 20^th century.]^[1]

   Hyponym: constitutive ablation

   2. (geology) The removal of a glacier by melting and evaporation; the lowering of a land surface by any of several means, as in wind erosion or mass wasting. [from 20th c.]^[1]
   4. (meteorology) The depletion of surface snow and ice from a spacecraft or meteorite through melting and evaporation caused by friction with the atmosphere.

• ablatable
• ablate
• ablator

• “ablation”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “ablation”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

•   Ablation in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

ablation c (singular definite ablationen, plural indefinite ablationer)

1. (geology, medicine) ablation

• “ablation” in Den Danske Ordbog

• Audio:

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ablation f (plural ablations)

1. the often forceful removal (physical or otherwise) or abolition of something
   • 2008 April 25, Martine Chouinard, “Brebis égarée”, in Le Devoir‎^[1], archived from the original on 19 June 2008:

     […] se contentant d’annoncer que l’ablation des nouvelles permettra de voguer vers «la production d’émissions culturelles et de divertissement de qualité».

     merely announcing that the elimination of news programming [on tv channel TQS] will allow it to focus on "the production of quality entertainment and cultural programming"

2. (medicine) ablation
3. (sciences) ablation

• → Dutch: ablatie

• “ablation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.