🇺🇸
/əˈvʌlʒən/
🇺🇸
/əˈvʌlʒən/
🇬🇧
/əˈvʌlʃən/
🇬🇧
/əˈvʌlʃən/
Plural
avulsions
Avulsion is a medical and geological term that describes the sudden, violent tearing away of something — like a tooth ripped from its socket, a tendon ripped from bone, or even land ripped away by a flood or earthquake. Think of it as nature or trauma doing a brutal 'rip-out' rather than a clean cut or slow separation.
The soccer player suffered a dental avulsion after being elbowed in the mouth during the match.
An avulsion fracture occurred when the athlete's hamstring tendon pulled a small piece of bone away from the pelvis.
The river's sudden change in course caused massive avulsion of farmland during the flood.
In emergency dentistry, immediate reimplantation is critical for successful treatment of tooth avulsion.
Geologists studied the coastal avulsion where the tsunami tore a 200-meter-wide strip of land into the sea.
avuls-
Comes from the Latin verb 'avulsus', the past participle of 'avulsere', meaning 'to tear away' or 'to pull off violently'. It is formed from the prefix 'ab-' (meaning 'away') and the root 'vuls-' (from 'vellere', meaning 'to pluck, pull, or tear'). Core concept: forceful separation or removal by violence or trauma. Examples include avulsion, revulsion (a violent pulling back — emotionally), convulsion (a violent, involuntary bodily movement), and vulsion (a rare variant meaning tearing).