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external ear

American  

noun

  1. the outer portion of the ear, consisting of the auricle and the canal extending to the tympanic membrane.


external ear British  

noun

  1. the part of the ear consisting of the auricle and the auditory canal

"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

Example Sentences

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Roughly 1,500 babies born in the United States each year have either microtia or a related condition, anotia, in which the entire external ear is missing.

From New York Times • Jun. 2, 2022

There are bone-conduction hearing aids, intended mainly for people whose principal hearing defects are in their middle ears or external ear canals; the most effective ones are physically anchored to the skull.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 3, 2019

“Wouldn’t it be fascinating to know what changes in that organism that make it go from external ear infection to an invader?”

From Scientific American • Jul. 23, 2019

Which ear structures are responsible for the amplification and transfer of sound from the external ear to the inner ear?

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

A discharge then appears in the canal of the external ear, and the pain is relieved.

From The Home Medical Library, Volume II (of VI) by Winslow, Kenelm