epidural

From epi- + dural.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɛp.ɪˈdjʊə.ɹəl/, /ɛp.ɪˈdjɔː.ɹəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɛp.əˈd(j)ʊɹ.əl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊəɹəl

epidural (comparative more epidural, superlative most epidural)

1. (anatomy, relational) Situated on or outside the dura mater.

   Synonyms: extradural, peridural

2. (medicine, relational) Of or pertaining to the space immediately outside the dura mater.

   Epidural anesthesia is commonly used for pain relief during childbirth.

epidural (plural epidurals)

1. (medicine) An injection of anaesthetic into the epidural space of the spine, especially associated with pain relief during childbirth.
   • 2014 December 5, Marina Hyde, “Childbirth is as awful as it is magical, thanks to our postnatal ‘care’”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     For reasons I shan’t bore you with, I got them to induce me at 39 weeks, at 10am, with the epidural going in first, and it was all a dream. Until the baby went back to back and they very nicely pointed out that the epidural doesn’t deal with that pain.

   • 2025 November 25, Jillian Pretzel, “I got an epidural for all three of my births – none of them worked as expected”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     During my third birth, the epidural provided a welcome numbing sensation on one side of my abdomen, but I still had sharp, intense pain on the other. […] I’ve talked to dozens of mom friends over the years. Most say their epidural was like a magic wand that eliminated their pain in minutes. Some recalled napping or watching a movie through most of labor.

• “epidural”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “epidural”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• preludia

From epi- +‎ dural.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ə.pi.ðuˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [e.pi.ðuˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: e‧pi‧du‧ral

epidural m or f (masculine and feminine plural epidurals)

1. epidural

epidural f (plural epidurals)

1. epidural

• “epidural”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “epidural” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

Borrowed from Dutch epiduraal.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /epiˈdural/ [e.piˈdu.ral]
• Rhymes: -ural
• Syllabification: e‧pi‧du‧ral

epidural (comparative lebih epidural, superlative paling epidural)

1. (anatomy, medicine) epidural

epidural (plural epidural-epidural)

1. (medicine) epidural

• “epidural”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Borrowed from English epidural, equivalent to epi- +‎ dural.

• IPA^(key): /epiduˈɾal/ [e.pi.ð̞uˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: e‧pi‧du‧ral

epidural f (plural epidurales)

1. epidural

epidural m or f (masculine and feminine plural epidurales)

1. epidural

• “epidural”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025