Definition of "tracheotomy" [tra•che•ot•o•my]

• Surgical incision of the trachea through the neck, as to make an artificial opening for breathing. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "WOODRUFF: Sanjay, if I'm hearing you correctly, I'm hearing you using both the term tracheotomy and tracheostomy, which is it, or is it both?"
• "What he's suggesting is something called a tracheotomy, which is where you take a tube and put it -- insert into the neck and put into the baby's lungs to help make breathing easier."
• "Once again he brought up the subject of the doctors at the hospital performing this procedure called a tracheotomy on my throat."