systole
The rhythmic contraction of the heart, by which blood is driven through the arteries.
Other meanings
A shortening of a naturally long vowel.
The shortest noncontractible loop on a compact metric space.
Antonyms
- diastole
Related words
- extrasystole
- hemisystole
- midsystole
- parasystole
- perisystole
- presystole
- tachysystole
- asystole
- systolic
Word history
From Ancient Greek "συστολή".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “systole” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.