cavity

[kav-i-tee]

noun

plural

cavities 

1. any hollow place; hollow.

2. Anatomy.,  a hollow space within the body, an organ, a bone, etc.

3. a hollow space or a pit in a tooth, most commonly produced by caries. A cavity may be artificially made to support dental restorations.

cavity

/ ˈkævɪtɪ /

noun

1. a hollow space; hole

2. dentistry a soft decayed area on a tooth See caries

3. any empty or hollow space within the body

   the oral cavity

4. electronics See cavity resonator

cavity

1. A hollow; a hole.

2. A hollow area within the body.

3. A pitted area in a tooth caused by caries.

Other Word Forms

• cavitied adjective
• subcavity noun
• uncavitied adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cavity¹

First recorded in 1535–45; from Middle French cavite from Late Latin cavitās “hollowness,” equivalent to Latin cav(us) “hollow” + -itās -ity

Word History and Origins

Origin of cavity¹

C16: from French cavité, from Late Latin cavitās, from Latin cavus hollow

Synonym Study

See hole.

Example Sentences

Mendoza says it was an anxiety-inducing process with lots of experimentation that ultimately had her stuffing a whole pineapple inside the turkey cavity to get just the right flavor.

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A portion of Earth's water resides in extremely small spaces, including molecular cavities found in protein binding sites or synthetic receptors.

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It first built a conical outer structure and then filled the inner cavity with carefully selected mineral grains, creating a second layer inside the shell.

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When enamel is lost, the teeth become more vulnerable to infections, cavities, and even tooth loss.

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Most earlier studies of superradiance assumed that light-matter coupling dominates, modeling the entire atomic group as one large "giant dipole" connected to the cavity's electromagnetic field.

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Related Words

• crater 

When To Use

What is a cavity?

A cavity is a pit or hole in a tooth caused by the decay of the enamel and bone, such as you might get if you don’t brush your teeth regularly.A cavity is more generally any hollow place or crater, as in When the old building was torn down, all that was left was a huge cavity in the ground.A cavity is also any other hole, divet, or pit in the body, such as the spinal cavity, which surrounds your spinal cord.Example: That cavity in your molar is probably from all the soda you drink.