alveolar

American  

[al-vee-uh-ler] / ælˈvi ə lər /

adjective

1. Anatomy, Zoology. of or relating to an alveolus or to alveoli.

2. Phonetics. articulated with the tongue touching or close to the alveolar ridge, as English t, d, n; gingival.

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noun

1. Phonetics. an alveolar sound.

alveolar British  

/ ˌælvɪˈəʊlə, ælˈvɪələ /

adjective

1. anatomy of, relating to, or resembling an alveolus

2. denoting the part of the jawbone containing the roots of the teeth

3. (of a consonant) articulated with the tongue in contact with the projecting part of the jawbone immediately behind the upper teeth

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noun

1. an alveolar consonant, such as the speech sounds written t, d, and s in English

Other Word Forms

• alveolarly adverb
• interalveolar adjective
• postalveolar adjective
• pseudoalveolar adjective

Etymology

Origin of alveolar

First recorded in 1790–1800; alveol- + -ar ¹

Example Sentences

Duong was diagnosed with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer, shortly after the Palisades fire rained ash on his family’s West L.A. apartment in 2025.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026

Diagnosed with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer affecting soft tissue, Duong has a malignant mass blocking blood flow to his optic nerve.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2025

"Implants require invasive surgery and good combination of implants and alveolar bone," explained Xuechen Zhang, a final year PhD student at the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences.

From BBC • Apr. 13, 2025

"It was surprising to find that CCR2 is so essential for alveolar macrophages to properly function," says Casanova.

From Science Daily • Feb. 8, 2024

Laleh grew up with the ear for it—the uvular fricatives and alveolar trills that I could never get quite right.

From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram