artery
Americannoun
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arteries
plural
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Anatomy. a blood vessel that conveys blood from the heart to any part of the body.
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a main channel or highway, especially of a connected system with many branches.
noun
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any of the tubular thick-walled muscular vessels that convey oxygenated blood from the heart to various parts of the body Compare pulmonary artery vein
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a major road or means of communication in any complex system
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of artery
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin artēria, from Greek artēría “windpipe, trachea, artery”; see aorta
Explanation
An artery is a major blood vessel that carries blood away from your heart. For a healthy heart, keep your arteries clean! The word artery comes from the Greek arteria, which means "windpipe." In ancient times, an artery was thought to be a kind of air duct, because after someone dies, their arteries are empty of blood. Today we know that arteries (and veins) perform a vital job, constantly moving blood around our bodies. Systems of rivers or roads with networks and branches that resemble the human circulatory system can also be called arteries.
Vocabulary lists containing artery
"Joyas Voladoras" by Brian Doyle
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Red Kayak
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Human Anatomy and Physiology - Introductory
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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:
Before the war, the strait—a critical artery for global energy markets—used to carry around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Previous research has linked the compound to type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026
Dr Edward Sheffield, who performed an additional post-mortem examination on Kitchen's body in Bristol, said his cause of death had been cardiac failure due to coronary artery atheroma and the physiological effects of turbulence.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Shipping routes through the Red Sea are a vital artery of the world economy.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
People weave around us like we're a blood clot in the hallway's artery.
From "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan
The technique is called superselective embolization because doctors target specific small arteries rather than blocking circulation throughout the joint.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
A heart attack is when one of the coronary arteries becomes blocked.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
On one huge video screen, colour-coded passenger and freight trains could be seen making their way along the arteries of Ukraine's vast railway network.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
It also overestimated diastolic blood pressure, the bottom number, or the pressure in the arteries when the heart rests between beats, by 4.0 mmHg.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
Leo could sense the Celestial bronze running through the workshop like arteries from a heart—ready to conduct magical energy from this spot.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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.
