lobe

American  

[lohb] / loʊb /

noun

• lobes
  plural

1. a roundish projection or division, as of an organ or a leaf.

2. earlobe.

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lobe British  

/ ləʊb /

noun

1. any rounded projection forming part of a larger structure

2. any of the subdivisions of a bodily organ or part, delineated by shape or connective tissue

3. short for ear lobe

4. any of the loops that form part of the graphic representation in cylindrical coordinates of the radiation pattern of a transmitting aerial Compare radiation pattern

5. any of the parts, not entirely separate from each other, into which a flattened plant part, such as a leaf, is divided

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lobe Scientific  

/ lōb /

1. A rounded projection, as on a leaf or petal. The leaves of many oak species have prominent lobes.

2. An anatomical division of an organ of the body. The liver, lungs, and brain are all characterized by lobes that are held in place by connective tissue.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• multilobe
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• lobes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of lobe

1515–25; < Medieval Latin lobus ( Late Latin: hull, husk, pod) < Greek lobós, akin to Latin legula lobe of the ear

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lobe lobes

Commercial speculation is only one lobe of the American story; so too is public-spiritedness, of which there is no better example than Hoover Dam.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026

Al-Hashimi became a polyglot — speaking English, Farsi and Armenian — in part to curb the effects of a seizure disorder on her temporal lobe, which is crucial for language comprehension.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026

Barbara Sahakian, a neuropsychologist at the University of Cambridge who specialises in ADHD, said the condition affects the brain's frontal lobe, which play a key role in organisation and focus.

From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026

Scroll through TikTok or Instagram and you will likely see the familiar line: “Your frontal lobe isn’t fully developed yet.”

From Science Daily ● Feb. 19, 2026

The Damasios are renowned brain researchers at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City and treat patients with the same kind of frontal lobe damage that afflicted Phineas.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

The same group also had smaller frontal and occipital lobes.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026

Participants who spent a large portion of their workday sitting actually had larger frontal and occipital lobes and lower white matter hyperintensity volumes.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026

Earth-based observations had already hinted that Donaldjohanson was elongated, but Lucy showed that the asteroid is actually composed of two connected lobes joined by a narrow neck.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 25, 2026

Even so, the findings suggest that synchronized activity between the frontal and parietal lobes plays a role in altruistic decision making.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 13, 2026

The case of Phineas Gage suggests that we are human because our frontal lobes are set up so we can get along with other humans.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman