| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| rupture |
| |
| SYLLABICATION: | rup·ture |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  r p ch r |
| NOUN: | 1a. The process or instance of breaking open or bursting. b. The state of being broken open. 2. A break in friendly relations. 3. Pathology a. A hernia, especially of the groin or intestines. b. A tear in an organ or a tissue: rupture of an appendix; ligament rupture. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: rup·tured, rup·tur·ing, rup·tures
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | To break open; burst. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To undergo or suffer a rupture. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old French, from Latin rupt ra, from ruptus, past participle of rumpere, to break. See reup- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | ruptur·a·ble —ADJECTIVE
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
