cornea
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cornea
1350–1400; Middle English < Medieval Latin cornea ( tēla, later tunica ) horny (web or tunic), feminine of corneus corneous
Explanation
Your cornea is part of your eyeball — specifically, it's the clear layer that covers your whole iris and pupil. Without a cornea (or two), you wouldn't be able to see. This transparent dome focuses light as it passes through, as well as protecting the rest of the eye from injury. If you've ever gotten a little scratch on your eyeball, that's called a corneal abrasion and it usually heals itself quickly. The Latin root of cornea means "horn-like web or sheath," from an ancient Greek belief that it resembled a thin slice of an animal's horn.
Vocabulary lists containing cornea
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
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Man Made Monsters
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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:
Instead of carving away tissue like LASIK, the method temporarily softens the cornea so it can be gently molded into a new shape.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026
Collagen-rich tissues throughout the body, including the cornea, maintain their shape through networks of charged molecules that hold the structure together.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026
Sitting on his living room couch this week, Rodriguez said doctors told him the projectile that hit him in his eye damaged his iris, cornea and lens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2026
Originally introduced in Europe, this 20-minute cosmetic procedure involves using a laser to create a channel in the cornea, where colored pigment is deposited to change the color of the eye.
From Salon ● May 4, 2025
There’s a ray of light streaming through the window, and when it hits my eye, it feels like daggers stabbing my cornea.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
In those eyes, the corneas successfully achieved the intended focusing power that would correspond to improved vision.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026
Consultant ophthalmologist Thomas Poole said the use of artificial corneas was a "great advancement for patient care".
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2024
One query thread pulls in a long-vanished German national, Otis Heiss, who was admitted to the local hospital with simalar injuries as the men frozen in the ice, including burned corneas and self-inflicted bites.
From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2024
A new person of interest emerges in Otis Heiss, a German national with a murky record who was admitted to the hospital with burns on his corneas, ruptured eardrums and self-inflicted bite marks.
From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2024
Though Mammachi had conical corneas and was already practically blind, Pappachi would not help her with the pickle-making because he did not consider pickle-making a suitable job for a high- ranking ex-Government official.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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.
