dentition

[ den-tish-uhn ]
See synonyms for dentition on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the makeup of a set of teeth including their kind, number, and arrangement.

  2. the eruption or cutting of the teeth; teething; odontiasis.

Origin of dentition

1
1605–15; <Latin dentītiōn- (stem of dentītiō), equivalent to dentīt(us) (past participle of dentīre to cut teeth, teethe) + -iōn--ion

Words Nearby dentition

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use dentition in a sentence

  • Now these correspondences are the more striking when we bear in mind that a similar dentition is often put to very different uses.

    On the Genesis of Species | St. George Mivart

British Dictionary definitions for dentition

dentition

/ (dɛnˈtɪʃən) /


noun
  1. the arrangement, type, and number of the teeth in a particular species. Man has a primary dentition of deciduous teeth and a secondary dentition of permanent teeth

  2. teething or the time or process of teething

Origin of dentition

1
C17: from Latin dentītiō a teething

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 dentition

dentition

[ dĕn-tĭshən ]


  1. The type, number, and arrangement of teeth in an animal species. In mammals, dentition consists of several different types of teeth, including incisors, canines, and molars. The dentition of toothed fish and reptiles usually consists of only one kind of tooth.

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