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heartburn

/ˌhɑrtˈbʌrn/
/ˈhɑtbən/
IPA guide

Other forms: heartburns

Heartburn is an uncomfortable form of indigestion that feels like a burning in your chest. You might experience heartburn after eating twelve slices of pizza for dinner.

People with a tendency to get heartburn often start to feel a painful sensation after they eat. Heartburn can begin as an acidic feeling in your stomach that moves up into your upper chest. It happens when gastric acid is regurgitated into the esophagus, and it can also be called "acid indigestion." The original, thirteenth century meaning of heartburn was "lust," but by the fifteenth century it had come to have today's meaning of "indigestion."

Definitions of heartburn
  1. noun
    a painful burning sensation in the chest caused by gastroesophageal reflux (backflow from the stomach irritating the esophagus); symptomatic of an ulcer or a diaphragmatic hernia or other disorder
    synonyms: pyrosis
    see moresee less
    type of:
    symptom
    (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease
Pronunciation
US
/ˌhɑrtˈbʌrn/
UK
/ˈhɑtbən/
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