bladder

[ blad-er ]
See synonyms for bladder on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Anatomy, Zoology.

    • a membranous sac or organ serving as a receptacle for a fluid or air.

  2. Pathology. a vesicle, blister, cyst, etc., filled with fluid or air.

  1. Botany. an air-filled sac or float, as in certain seaweeds.

  2. something resembling a bladder, as the inflatable lining of a football or basketball.

  3. an air-filled sac, usually made to resemble a club, used for beatings in low comedy, vaudeville, or the like.

Origin of bladder

1
before 900; Middle English; Old English blǣddre, blǣdre bladder, blister, pimple; cognate with Old Norse blāthra,dialectal Dutch bladder,German Blatter; akin to blow2

Other words from bladder

  • blad·der·less, adjective
  • blad·der·like, adjective

Words Nearby bladder

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bladder in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bladder

bladder

/ (ˈblædə) /


noun
  1. anatomy a distensible membranous sac, usually containing liquid or gas, esp the urinary bladder: Related adjective: vesical

  2. an inflatable part of something

  1. a blister, cyst, vesicle, etc, usually filled with fluid

  2. a hollow vesicular or saclike part or organ in certain plants, such as the bladderwort or bladderwrack

Origin of bladder

1
Old English blǣdre

Derived forms of bladder

  • bladdery, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for bladder

bladder

[ blădər ]


  1. A sac-shaped muscular organ that stores the urine secreted by the kidneys, found in all vertebrates except birds and the monotremes. In mammals, urine is carried from the kidneys to the bladder by the ureters and is later discharged from the body through the urethra.

  2. An air bladder.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for bladder

bladder

A stretchable saclike structure in the body that holds fluids. The term is used most often to refer to the urinary bladder, which is part of the excretory system. Another kind of bladder is the gallbladder.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.