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
The diagram shows a red blood cell in an alveolus and then in a body tissue.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
A focus-stacked picture of a tiny, 3D-printed alveolus, or artificial lung.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 16, 2019
As oxygen diffuses across the respiratory membrane from the alveolus to the capillary, it also diffuses into the red blood cell and is bound by hemoglobin.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
Alveolatus is from alveolus, a small hollow, referring to the pitted form of the pore-surface, which is one of the characters of this species.
From The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Miron Elisha Hard
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
"We have identified a key metabolic relationship between macrophages and alveoli that is exploited by tumor cells to support the cancer's metabolic demands -- now we just have to disrupt that exploitation."
From Science Daily ● Feb. 7, 2024
However, it rarely affects the bronchi and alveoli in the lungs.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2023
It occurs as the covering epithelium of the alveoli of the lung, of the kidney glomerules and capsule, &c.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 6 "English Language" to "Epsom Salts" by Various
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.
