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Medicine/Medical. general or local insensibility, as to pain and other sensation, induced by certain interventions or drugs to permit the performance of surgery or other painful procedures.
Pathology. general loss of the senses of feeling, as pain, heat, cold, touch, and other less common varieties of sensation.
Psychiatry. absence of sensation due to psychological processes, as in conversion disorders.
Contemporary Examples

Someof the injured were being detained right after they awoke from anesthesia.
Ukraine’s Mother Teresa Of The Maidan Anna Nemtsova February 27, 2014

It had been 30 minutes since his surgery, and the man was still in the grips of anesthesia.
Syrian Rebel Fighters Overwhelm Turkish Border Hospitals Mike Giglio July 26, 2012

“I told him that the sleep you get with anesthesia is not real sleep, not restful sleep,” Quinn testified.
Up to Speed: 5 Key Moments From the Michael Jackson AEG Trial Christine Pelisek September 27, 2013

Jose numbed her skin with cream and anesthesia before injecting eight “huge” needles into her rear.
Illegal Butt Injections Are on the Rise and Women Are at Risk Lizzie Crocker, Caitlin Dickson October 12, 2012

The procedure, anesthesia, and a checkup two weeks after total up to 550 dollars.
Inside an Oklahoma Abortion Clinic Allison Yarrow January 21, 2013

Historical Examples

The instruments should be prepared and ready before the anesthetic is given, regardless of the form of anesthesia employed.
Surgery, with Special Reference to Podiatry Maximilian Stern

anesthesia from it sets in more rapidly and lasts longer than with cocaine.
Merck’s 1899 Manual Merck & Co.

Cotton Process Ether contains no components which do not occur in other anesthesia ethers.
The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 2 of 2 Various

They’ve been mighty good to us—but do you remember the anesthesia?
Herland Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman

A master surgeon, an expert on anesthesia—a thousand years ahead of his time.
Astounding Stories, June, 1931 Various

noun
the usual US spelling of anaesthesia
n.

alternative spelling of anaesthesia (q.v.). See ae.

anesthesia an·es·the·sia (ān’ĭs-thē’zhə)
n.

Total or partial loss of sensation, especially tactile sensibility, induced by disease, injury, acupuncture, or an anesthetic.

Local or general insensibility to pain with or without the loss of consciousness, induced by an anesthetic.

anesthesia
(ān’ĭs-thē’zhə)
Total or partial loss of sensation to touch or pain, caused by nerve injury or disease, or induced intentionally, especially by the administration of anesthetic drugs, to provide medical treatment. The first public use of ether to anesthetize a patient in Boston in 1846 initiated widespread acceptance of anesthetics in the Western world for surgical procedures and obstetrics. General anesthesia, administered as inhalation or intravenous agents, acts primarily on the brain, resulting in a temporary loss of consciousness. Regional or local anesthesia affects sensation in a specific anatomic area, and includes topical application of local anesthetics, blocking of peripheral nerves, spinal anesthesia, and epidural anesthesia, which is used commonly during childbirth.
anesthesia [(an-is-thee-zhuh)]

Loss of sensation or consciousness. Anesthesia can be induced by an anesthetic, by acupuncture, or as the result of injury or disease.