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Medicine vocabulary · Prescriptions and Medication

Inhaler

Meaning in medicine, with examples

/ɪnˈheɪlər/nounCommon term

In medicine, inhaler means: A small hand-held device that delivers medicine as a spray or powder directly into the lungs when the patient breathes in.

In Turkish: inhaler, solunum spreyi, inhalasyon cihazı

How it is used

Used for asthma and COPD. Doctors separate reliever inhalers (often blue in the UK) from preventer inhalers and check inhaler technique, because poor technique is a common reason for poor control. A spacer helps some patients.

Example sentences

  1. Can you show me how you use your inhaler?

  2. She's using her blue inhaler every day, which suggests her asthma isn't well controlled.

Common collocations

  • reliever inhaler
  • preventer inhaler
  • inhaler technique
  • steroid inhaler
  • use an inhaler
  • asthmaA long-term lung condition in which the airways become narrow and inflamed, causing wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath that can come and go.
  • COPDShort for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a long-term lung disease, usually caused by smoking, in which damaged airways make it hard to breathe out.
  • wheezeA high-pitched whistling sound made when air moves through narrowed airways, usually heard when breathing out.
  • adherenceHow closely a patient takes their medicines or follows a treatment plan in the way they agreed with their doctor.
  • shortness of breathA feeling that you cannot get enough air or have to work hard to breathe; the medical word is dyspnea (UK: dyspnoea).

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Prescriptions and Medication

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.