noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fingernail
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at finger, nail
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:
At the August hearing, McCaslin said she wants to decide other evidentiary issues, including whether the defense will be allowed to test DNA found under Maggie’s fingernail with new genetic-genealogy techniques.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
IBM has unveiled a new chip design which it says could enable manufacturers to cram 100 billion transistors on a silicon chip the size of a fingernail.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
His miniature fingernail polish paintings of everyday objects — a purse, a lipstick tube, a stiletto — are equal parts playful and macabre.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026
Ortiz says an Arlington police detective called him and asked what fingernail polish Cynthia had been wearing when she disappeared.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
Thanks to Global Positioning Systems we can see that Europe and North America are parting at about the speed a fingernail grows–roughly two yards in a human lifetime.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
He scraped the bottom of the pool with his fingernails and provided a few treatment tips of his own.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
The Gofar fault is a deep underwater fracture where the Pacific and Nazca tectonic plates slide past one another at roughly 140 millimeters per year, about as fast as fingernails grow.
From Science Daily ● May 16, 2026
Pfeiffer: The surprising thing is, you realize you’re just hanging on by your fingernails.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2026
He paints his fingernails and is no stranger to samba dancing in the finish area, wanting to bring more colour to alpine skiing.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2026
Every night for a month, when I came in from the junkyard, I’d spend an hour scrubbing grime from my fingernails and dirt from my ears.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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.
