alveolus
Americannoun
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alveoli
plural
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a little cavity, pit, or cell, as a cell of a honeycomb.
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an air cell of the lungs, formed by the terminal dilation of tiny air passageways.
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one of the terminal secretory units of a racemose gland.
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the socket within the jawbone in which the root or roots of a tooth are set.
noun
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any small pit, cavity, or saclike dilation, such as a honeycomb cell
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any of the sockets in which the roots of the teeth are embedded
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any of the tiny air sacs in the lungs at the end of the bronchioles, through which oxygen is taken into the blood
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alveoli
plural
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Any of the tiny air-filled sacs arranged in clusters in the lungs, in which the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place.
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Also called air sac
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of alveolus
1700–10; < Latin, equivalent to alve ( us ) concave vessel + -olus -ole 1
Vocabulary lists containing alveolus
Human Anatomy and Physiology - Introductory
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Human Anatomy and Physiology - High School
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Human Anatomy and Physiology - Middle School
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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:
In one example, six nests were stacked within a single alveolus, arranged one inside another like Russian dolls.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 3, 2026
A focus-stacked picture of a tiny, 3D-printed alveolus, or artificial lung.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 16, 2019
The alveolates are named for the presence of an alveolus, or membrane-enclosed sac, beneath the cell membrane.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Each tooth is anchored into a deep socket called an alveolus.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
A dental plate should be fitted to fill up the gap in the alveolus.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Alexander Miles
The hutia's teeth had once been held in small sockets in the jaw, known as alveoli.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 3, 2026
Microscopic analysis of tissue from sick cows showed the virus infects cells in the alveoli, the millions of tiny milk-producing sacs in udders.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 30, 2024
Sand is fine enough that it can travel deep into the lungs, blocking off access to the alveoli, which is where the lungs hand off their oxygen to the blood.
From Slate ● Mar. 1, 2024
They found that changes in pressure affected the activity of two channels involved in sodium transport -- the epithelial sodium channel and the sodium-potassium ion pump in the cells of lung alveoli.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 12, 2024
This starts at the right ventricle and by its branches conveys blood to the capillaries surrounding the alveoli in all parts of the lungs.
From Physiology and Hygiene for Secondary Schools by Francis M. Walters
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.
