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.

---

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

---

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

"Even though the periodontal tissue is composed of gingiva, periodontal ligament, alveolar bone, and cementum, analyses are usually performed exclusively on gingival samples due to technical and quantitative limitations," remarks lead author Mr. Anhao Liu.

From Science Daily • May 21, 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