hyperthermia

plural hyperthermias

1. countableuncountablemedicineThe condition of having an abnormally high body temperature caused by a failure of the heat-regulating mechanisms of the body to deal with the heat coming from the environment.

   On Friday, a hospital in Marseille said an 18-month-old child had died in emergency care earlier in the week after he was found in a car in a state of hyperthermia.

   2026 June 26, Ashifa Kassam, Damian Carrington, Helena Smith, “Fourth toddler dies in France as Europe’s brutal heatwave forecast to shift east”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   2 more examples

   Autopsy results revealed that Braydon was generally malnourished and thin. His cause of death was hyperthermia due to the extreme heat, which would have “caused extreme discomfort and difficulty breathing as he died.”

   2015 December 23, Tiffany Ap and Artemis Moshtaghian, “Neglected boy shut in room with heater on dies of hyperthermia”, in CNN

   Hyperthermia, that's just a word. The reality is different. You can't breathe. Sweating doesn't work. You're being roasted, like meat in an oven, and you can feel that.

   2020, Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, Little, Brown Book Group, →ISBN

   Synonyms: heatstroke · Antonyms: hypothermia

2. countableuncountablemedicineThe therapeutic application of heat to a patient, especially as treatment to cancer.

   Synonyms: thermotherapy