decompression sickness

1. 1.

   pain resulting from rapid change in pressure

   Synonymsaeroembolismair embolismgas embolismcaisson diseasebends

   Broaderillness

Questions about decompression sickness

What does decompression sickness mean?

decompression sickness means "pain resulting from rapid change in pressure".

What is another word for decompression sickness?

Close synonyms include aeroembolism, air embolism, gas embolism, caisson disease, bends. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is decompression sickness a common word?

decompression sickness is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.