ultrasound

/ˌʌltrəˈsaʊnd/

/ˈʌltrəsaʊnd/

Other forms: ultrasounds

The noun ultrasound is a medical term for a scan that allows doctors to easily and safely see inside a patient's body.

An ultrasound uses inaudible sound waves to create a picture of a person's internal organs, muscles, bones, and other body parts. The type of ultrasound that's most familiar to non-medical professionals is the kind that allows a doctor or technician to see a fetus from the outside of a pregnant woman's stomach. The person who performs an ultrasound is called a sonographer or a radiologist.

Definitions of ultrasound

1. noun

   using the reflections of high-frequency sound waves to construct an image of a body organ (a sonogram); commonly used to observe fetal growth or study bodily organs
   synonyms: echography, sonography, ultrasonography

   types:

   A-scan ultrasonography

   the use of ultrasonography to measure the length of the eyeball

   B-scan ultrasonography

   the use of ultrasonography to view structure in the back of the eye

   type of:

   prenatal diagnosis

   any of the diagnostic procedures used to determine whether a fetus has a genetic abnormality

   imaging, tomography

   (medicine) obtaining pictures of the interior of the body
2. noun

   very high frequency sound; used in ultrasonography
   type of:

   sound

   mechanical vibrations transmitted by an elastic medium