noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fingernail
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at finger, nail
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:
Nanocrystals are extremely small crystals, with millions or even billions able to fit on a fingernail.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
His miniature fingernail polish paintings of everyday objects — a purse, a lipstick tube, a stiletto — are equal parts playful and macabre.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026
Ortiz says an Arlington police detective called him and asked what fingernail polish Cynthia had been wearing when she disappeared.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
Except for one picked cuticle on a fingernail, which was ever so slightly rimmed with blood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2025
Joe placed his chipped fingernail by a face.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
His fingernails, seen up close, are relatively clean.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
However, nonconductive materials like fingernails or pencil erasers do not alter the electric field, so the screen does not respond.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 26, 2026
“Keeping the dirt under my fingernails with projects like this, and watching shows as often as I do, you realize how hard and how much creativity and magic there are around shows,” Lovett said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2026
Ireland were hanging on by their fingernails, before a second-half rally threatened to turn a cakewalk into a contest.
From Barron's ● Feb. 5, 2026
My poor fingernails were chewed down to the nub.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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.
