dentition
Americannoun
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the makeup of a set of teeth including their kind, number, and arrangement.
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the eruption or cutting of the teeth; teething; odontiasis.
noun
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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
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teething or the time or process of teething
Etymology
Origin of dentition
1605–15; < Latin dentītiōn- (stem of dentītiō), equivalent to dentīt ( us ) (past participle of dentīre to cut teeth, teethe) + -iōn- -ion
Vocabulary lists containing dentition
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.
The discovery of teeth on the tenaculum has reopened that debate, prompting researchers to ask how widespread such features might be and what they reveal about the history of vertebrate dentition.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025
Pondering extraterrestrial dentition is just one of the byproducts of working on the series for more than five years.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2025
More baby boomers reached 60 with “a relatively intact dentition at that age than any generation in history,” the CDC says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2024
Tusks are among the most dramatic examples of mammal dentition: ever-growing, projecting teeth used for fighting, foraging, even flirting.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2021
Skull: Small and not heavily ridged; zygomatic arches widely spreading but weak; zygomatic arches nearly parallel; tympanic bullae moderately inflated ventrally; palate not arched; interpterygoid space U-shaped; dentition light.
From The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah, Vol. 1 No. 1 Kansas University Publications. by Stephen D. Durrant
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.
