Embolism vs. Embolus — What's the Difference?

An embolism is the lodging of an embolus, a blockage-causing piece of material, inside a blood vessel. The embolus may be a blood clot (thrombus), a fat globule (fat embolism), a bubble of air or other gas (gas embolism), amniotic fluid (amniotic fluid embolism), or foreign material.

An embolus (; plural emboli; from the Greek ἔμβολος "wedge", "plug") is an unattached mass that travels through the bloodstream and is capable of creating blockages. When an embolus occludes a blood vessel, it is called an embolism or embolic event.

Obstruction or occlusion of a blood vessel by an embolus.

A mass, such as an air bubble, a detached blood clot, or a foreign body, that travels through the bloodstream and lodges so as to obstruct or occlude a blood vessel.

An embolus.

(pathology) An obstruction causing an embolism: a blood clot, air bubble or other matter carried by the bloodstream and causing a blockage or occlusion of a blood vessel.

(pathology) An obstruction or occlusion of an artery by an embolus, that is by a blood clot, air bubble or other matter that has been transported by the blood stream.

(zoology) The structure on the end of the palp of male arachnids which contains the opening to the ejaculatory duct.

The insertion or intercalation of days into the calendar in order to correct the error arising from the difference between the civil year and the solar year.

Something inserted, as a wedge; the piston or sucker of a pump or syringe.

An intercalated prayer for deliverance from evil coming after the Lord's Prayer.

A plug of some substance lodged in a blood vessel, being brought thither by the blood current. It consists most frequently of a clot of fibrin, a detached shred of a morbid growth, a globule of fat, or a microscopic organism.

Intercalation; the insertion of days, months, or years, in an account of time, to produce regularity; as, the embolism of a lunar month in the Greek year.

An abnormal particle (e.g. an air bubble or part of a clot) circulating in the blood

Intercalated time.

The occlusion of a blood vessel by an embolus. Embolism in the brain often produces sudden unconsciousness and paralysis.

An insertion into a calendar

Occlusion of a blood vessel by an embolus (a loose clot or air bubble or other particle)