stertorous

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   characterized by heavy, noisy breathing that resembles snoring

   The doctor became concerned when the patient's breathing grew stertorous.

Formed in the early nineteenth century from Modern Latin stertor ("a snoring sound") + -ous. Stertor comes from Latin stertere ("to snore"). The word remains especially common in medical descriptions of obstructed or labored breathing.

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