resuscitate (2009-09-30)

Part of Speech: verb

Pronunciation: [ree-'sê-sê-teyt]

Definition: To bring back from the brink of death by restoring breathing or consciousness.

Usage: Today's word is the one to use when actual life is at stake, "When Fernando saw his mother in the arms of her new boyfriend, he collapsed and it took a quarter hour of CPR to resuscitate him." You can revive someone with a pitcher of cold water on the face but resuscitation takes more effort: "Nothing can resuscitate Pellegrino's plan now that everyone knows it is his and not the boss's."

Suggested Usage: Today's word belongs to a large derivational family. There are two adjectives, resuscitative "capable of resuscitating" and resuscitable "capable of being resuscitated." The action noun is "resuscitation" and the agent or instrumental noun is resuscitator "a person or mechanism that resuscitates." There are also two synonyms with distinguishable meanings. "Restore" means to return to a previous condition, while "revive" means to bring back to consciousness or memory, as to revive a play. "Resuscitate" is much more visceral and bodily; that is why "CPR" stands for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and not cardio-pulmonary revival.

Etymology: "Resuscitate" comes from the past passive participle of Latin resuscitare based on re- "again" + suscitare "to stir up, "from sub- (sus-) "below" + citare "to move vigorously," the repetitive form of ciere "to set in motion." The Latin root, cie-, comes from the same Proto-Indo-European root, *kei-"to set in motion," that gives us "kinetic" from Greek from kinetos "moving" from kinein "to move." (Latin "c" was originally pronounced [k] as Greek "k.") The same Greek word occurs in cinematograph "moving picture," which has been clipped down to "cinema."