noun
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Technical name: axilla. the small depression beneath the arm where it joins the shoulder
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slang an extremely unpleasant place
the armpit of the Mediterranean
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of armpit
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English; arm 1 + pit 1 ( def. )
Explanation
Your armpit is the area underneath your upper arm, where it connects to your shoulder. Armpits tend to be smelly, so we would advise to steer clear of an open armpit on a bus or subway. Another common word for armpit is "underarm," while the official anatomical term is axilla. Perhaps because your armpits tend to get sweaty and a little smelly after you exercise, the word armpit is sometimes used as a derogatory term for an unattractive place: "That city is so ugly it's the armpit of New Jersey." Before armpit, the axilla was known as an arm-hole.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Instead, she found a lump in her armpit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
Aleisha Rochester, 33, a bank cashier from Croydon, south London, died two weeks after undergoing a routine procedure to remove an abscess from her left armpit.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2026
On one video call, Chantelle says, Paloma said she had a new lump in her armpit, and her mother had told her it meant that the cancer was going out of her body.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2025
“It really changed the notion that we were the armpit of the region.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2025
When she lifts her arm, I see the corner of a tattoo under her armpit.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
I felt my armpits dampen when my boss called me into his office.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
And what most people remember about their performance is that Paula Cole didn’t shave her armpits, resulting in months of fodder for late-night comedians.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2025
A well-known deodorant brand has apologised after some of its roll-on products reportedly left customers with itchy, burning armpits.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2025
My face flushed red and I started sweating, damp spots emerging under my armpits and on my chest.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2025
He pulled his colorful drape up under his armpits and crossed his arms over the front of his chest as a man only does when proud of his physique.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
