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• pons
  pons

  noun

  a band of nerve fibers in the brain connecting the lobes of the midbrain, medulla, and cerebrum.
• Pons
  Pons

  noun

  Lily 1904–76, U.S. operatic soprano, born in France.

pons

¹ American  

[ponz] / pɒnz /

noun

Anatomy.

• pontes
  plural

1. Also called pons Varolii. a band of nerve fibers in the brain connecting the lobes of the midbrain, medulla, and cerebrum.

2. any tissue connecting two parts of a body organ or structure.

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Pons ² American  

[ponz, pawns] / pɒnz, pɔ̃s /

noun

1. Lily 1904–76, U.S. operatic soprano, born in France.

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pons British  

/ pɒnz /

noun

1. a bridge of connecting tissue

2. short for pons Varolii

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pons Scientific  

/ pŏnz /

• pontes
  plural

1. A thick band of nerve fibers in the brainstem of humans and other mammals that links the brainstem to the cerebellum and upper portions of the brain. It is important in the reflex control of involuntary processes, including respiration and circulation. All neural information transmitted between the spinal cord and the brain passes through the pons.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pontes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pons

1685–95; < Latin pōns bridge ( see punt ¹)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pons Pons pontes

However, messages coming down from the pons actually inhibit activity in the medulla, leading breathing rates to slow down.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 19, 2024

Han's team hypothesized that certain emotions or behaviors could lead cortical neurons to activate the pons, which would then lower activity in the medulla, resulting in slower breath.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 19, 2024

It consists of the midbrain, medulla oblongata, and the pons.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

The brain stem includes the midbrain, pons, and medulla, which correspond to the mesencephalon, metencephalon, and myelencephalon.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

From the internal capsule, the motor fibres pass as the pyramidal tract through the crusta of each crus cerebri, the pons and the medulla oblongata.

From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Alexander Miles

“I was really thinking it was going to be lots of small items,” Scarlett Pons said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 6, 2025

While in Outer Space, Gobo meets Lele Pons, the Youtube star and singer, who is facing her own form of writer’s block.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025

Jordi Pons: Manager Hansi Flick is looking for more alternatives, so he can have competition for places in every position.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2025

Jordi Pons: I look at what players do on the pitch.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2025

Here he calculated the orbit of the comet observed by Mechain, Miss Herschel, and Pons, predicted its return, and detected a gradual acceleration of movement, ascribed by him to the presence of a resisting medium.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 2: Ebert to Estremadura by Various

This is now a sacred island, lying by the city, adorned with temples of the gods, and walks, and is called in the Latin tongue inter duos pontes.

From Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans by Arthur Hugh Clough

After passing through the pontes they received the voting tablets at the entrance of the septa.

From Plutarch's Lives, Volume II by Aubrey Stewart

Where this great road crosses streams and might reasonably be lost, at its pontes, its bridges, it has remained, and is of such importance as to have given a name to a whole countryside--Ponthieu.

From First and Last by Hilaire Belloc

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