ventilate
/ˈvɛntɪleɪt
/verb [with object]
1Cause air to enter and circulate freely in (a room, building, etc.): ventilate the greenhouse well (as adjective, in combination -ventilated) gas heaters should only ever be used in well-ventilated rooms...
- Every part of the living area is properly ventilated, with each room given a huge opening that enhances a sense of spaciousness.
- Their laboratory was three mechanically ventilated office buildings.
- The building was evacuated as two teams of two fire fighters entered the building to clear up the spillage and ventilate the factory.
Synonyms
aerate, air, oxygenate, air-condition, fan, freshen, refresh, cool
2Discuss or examine (an opinion, issue, or complaint) in public: he used the club to ventilate an ongoing complaint...
- Over the next few days I plan to really ventilate the issue, to open up for discussion and so on.
- It is also a remedy in public law for safeguarding public law rights and for ventilating public law issues.
- Her erstwhile colleagues in Cabinet report that Ms Short was never timid about ventilating her opinions.
Synonyms
express, give expression to, air, give an airing to, bring into the open, raise, register, lodge, bring up, come out with, reveal, assert, declare, communicate, utter, voice, give voice to, put into words, verbalize, talk about, discuss, debate, talk over
3 Medicine Subject to artificial respiration: the patient was sedated and ventilated...
- In Brazil, 55 % of patients mechanically ventilated for acute lung injury died.
- Each animal was artificially ventilated, and the mechanical respiratory properties of the mouse were measured.
- A sterile, second airway is needed in this instance to ventilate the lung.
3.1 archaic Oxygenate (the blood).
4 informal Kill (someone) by shooting: I pull out a gun and ventilate her dinner companion...
- A few seconds and four popped caps later, she ventilated Anthony Peralez's arm with two rounds and plunked a pumpkin ball into his belly.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'winnow, scatter'): from Latin ventilat- 'blown, winnowed', from the verb ventilare, from ventus 'wind'. Sense 1 dates from the mid 18th century.
Rhymes
- public library
- public limited company
- publicly
- public menace
- publicness
- public nuisance
- public offer
- public offering
- public office
- public opinion
- public orator
- public ownership
- public park
- public policy
- public prosecutor
- public purse
- Public Record Office
- public relations
- public room
- public school
- public school boy
- public-schoolboyish
- public schooling
- public-schoolish
- public-schoolishness