anoxia
noun
an·ox·ia
a-ˈnäk-sē-ə 
1
: hypoxia especially of such severity as to result in permanent damage
2
: the absence of dissolved oxygen in a body of water
Anoxia (zero milligrams 02 per liter) is not only deadly for biota, but is also a condition that initiates different microbial and geochemical reactions.—
Nathan Hawley
Nathan HawleyExamples of anoxia in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Leaper Williams, a Lawrence High graduate who started working at KU at 16, emerged as one of KU football’s most recognizable employees through the years, overcoming a development impairment due to anoxia, a lack of oxygen to the brain, at birth.
—Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 8 Oct. 2025
But if successful, shark teeth could become a valuable tool for studying marine anoxia, helping scientists better understand past climate events and predict future ocean changes in response to global warming.
—Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2025
Oxygen masks, for instance, failed often enough that over half of fliers experienced some form of anoxia.
—Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2024
Song and colleagues used this approach to discover that each Capitanian marine extinction pulse coincided with widespread oxygen starvation in the ocean, called anoxia.
—Howard Lee, Ars Technica, 25 July 2023
When the brain is starved of blood flow (ischemia) and oxygen (anoxia), the patient faints in a fraction of a minute and his or her electroencephalogram, or EEG, becomes isoelectric—in other words, flat.
—Christof Koch, Scientific American, 19 May 2020
There are examples of trilobite clusters from later in the fossil record that appear to have perished from sudden anoxia, or lack of oxygen, in the water.
—Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 17 Oct. 2019
These eruptions ejected massive amounts of heat-trapping gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, enabling runaway global warming and related effects such as ocean acidification and anoxia, a loss of dissolved oxygen in water.
—Michael Greshko, National Geographic, 30 Sep. 2019
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Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 8 Oct. 2025
But if successful, shark teeth could become a valuable tool for studying marine anoxia, helping scientists better understand past climate events and predict future ocean changes in response to global warming.
—Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2025
Oxygen masks, for instance, failed often enough that over half of fliers experienced some form of anoxia.
—Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2024
Song and colleagues used this approach to discover that each Capitanian marine extinction pulse coincided with widespread oxygen starvation in the ocean, called anoxia.
—Howard Lee, Ars Technica, 25 July 2023
When the brain is starved of blood flow (ischemia) and oxygen (anoxia), the patient faints in a fraction of a minute and his or her electroencephalogram, or EEG, becomes isoelectric—in other words, flat.
—Christof Koch, Scientific American, 19 May 2020
There are examples of trilobite clusters from later in the fossil record that appear to have perished from sudden anoxia, or lack of oxygen, in the water.
—Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 17 Oct. 2019
These eruptions ejected massive amounts of heat-trapping gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, enabling runaway global warming and related effects such as ocean acidification and anoxia, a loss of dissolved oxygen in water.
—Michael Greshko, National Geographic, 30 Sep. 2019
Cite this Entry
“Anoxia.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anoxia. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
anoxia
noun
an·ox·ia
a-ˈnäk-sē-ə
: a condition in which too little oxygen (as at high altitudes) reaches the tissues
Medical Definition
anoxia
noun
an·ox·ia
ə-ˈnäk-sē-ə, a-
: hypoxia especially of such severity as to result in permanent damage
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