noun
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Technical name: axilla. the small depression beneath the arm where it joins the shoulder
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slang an extremely unpleasant place
the armpit of the Mediterranean
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of armpit
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English; arm 1 + pit 1 ( def. )
Explanation
Your armpit is the area underneath your upper arm, where it connects to your shoulder. Armpits tend to be smelly, so we would advise to steer clear of an open armpit on a bus or subway. Another common word for armpit is "underarm," while the official anatomical term is axilla. Perhaps because your armpits tend to get sweaty and a little smelly after you exercise, the word armpit is sometimes used as a derogatory term for an unattractive place: "That city is so ugly it's the armpit of New Jersey." Before armpit, the axilla was known as an arm-hole.
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:
Karen Piazza, a 45-year old teacher in Brooklyn, paid $8,100 for the procedure, which left her with a small scar under each armpit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
More surgical options have emerged too, such as smaller incisions in the chest, or a robotic surgery that involves a smaller incision on a person’s side near the armpit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
“He lived in Bakersfield, which is the armpit of California,” Hankel says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
In June, the woman first felt what she described as like a "pull" under her armpit.
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025
He would use the current to help carry him away from this armpit place.
From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen
You’re either stuck to a vinyl-clad seat or grabbing up for a handrail and trying to direct your face away from the armpits to your left and right.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
Sometimes I just have time to wipe my armpits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 1, 2025
And what most people remember about their performance is that Paula Cole didn’t shave her armpits, resulting in months of fodder for late-night comedians.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2025
But after she started using a new bottle of the firm's aerosol powder fresh deodorant in July, she developed an itchy red rash around her armpits and says she "started smelling really bad".
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2025
He stood shirtless before the mirror and dabbled some of the perfume on his dark, hairy armpits.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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.
