injection

/ɪnˈdʒɛkʃən/

/ɪnˈdʒɛkʃən/

Other forms: injections

An injection is a shot, or a dose of medicine given by way of a syringe and a needle. When you get jabbed in the arm with a tetanus vaccine, that's an injection.

The medical kind of injection forces a small amount of a drug under the skin or directly into a muscle. Other injections are similar in that they involve a liquid being forced by pressure, like the fuel injection in a car, which pushes gasoline directly into the engine. Since the 1600s, injection has been used to mean "forcing a fluid into a body," from the Latin inicere, "to throw in" or "to throw on."

Definitions of injection

1. noun

   the forceful insertion of a substance under pressure
   types:

   epidural injection

   injection of an anesthetic substance into the epidural space of the spinal cord in order to produce epidural anesthesia

   type of:

   insertion, introduction, intromission

   the act of putting one thing into another
2. noun

   the act of putting a liquid into the body by means of a syringe
   synonyms: shot

   types:

   intradermal injection

   an injection into the skin

   intramuscular injection

   an injection into a muscle

   intravenous injection

   an injection into a vein

   subcutaneous injection

   an injection under the skin

   fix

   something craved, especially an intravenous injection of a narcotic drug

   type of:

   medical aid, medical care

   professional treatment for illness or injury
3. noun

   any solution that is injected (as into the skin)
   synonyms: injectant

   type of:

   solution

   a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances; frequently (but not necessarily) a liquid solution