heart failure: Meaning and Definition of

heart' fail"ure

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. a condition in which the heart fatally ceases to function.
  2. Also calleda condition in which the heart fails to pump adequate amounts of blood to the tissues, resulting in accumulation of blood returning to the heart from the veins, and often accompanied by distension of the ventricles, edema, and shortness of breath.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.