English

Alternative forms

• heatstroke

Noun

heat stroke ‎(countable and uncountable, plural heat strokes)

1. (medicine, countable or uncountable) An illness caused by overheating a person or animal beyond its body's capacity to regulate internal temperature.

Usage notes

• Heat stroke is normally used as a countable noun, especially in a medical context.
  • I'm in the hospital because I had a heat stroke today.‎
  • It was so hot at the race that four runners and three onlookers had a heat stroke.‎
• But in some contexts, especially more informal English, it can be used in an uncountable way.
  • I was feeling dizzy and weak earlier, but I'm okay now, so I think it was just a touch of heat stroke.‎
  • If it gets any hotter in there, he might move from mild hyperthermia to outright heat stroke.‎

Related terms

• sunstroke

Translations