incisor
Americannoun
-
incisors
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of incisor
1665–75; < New Latin: literally, cutter, equivalent to Latin incīd ( ere ) to incise + -tor -tor, with -dt- > -s-
Explanation
An incisor is a sharp front tooth, perfectly shaped and paired for the purpose of gnawing and cutting food. Humans usually have eight incisors, but opossums? They have 18! Did you know you are like the T. rex? You both have incisors! But, there are clear differences. Human incisors are about the size of a small almond and T. rex's were the size of a banana. Either way, these teeth play a crucial role in the initial stages of food processing by aiding in biting and preparing food for further chewing and digestion. Incisors are characterized by their relatively straight edges, making them essential for tasks like tearing into tough foods or biting into fruits and vegetables.
Vocabulary lists containing incisor
Animals (Zoology) - Middle School
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Animals (Zoology) - High School
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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:
Based on the emergence of its baby incisor teeth, researchers estimate the cub was about 3 weeks old when it died.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 15, 2024
To learn more about the composition of rodent tooth enamel, Vesna Srot and colleagues captured high-resolution images of incisor specimens from several species.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 17, 2024
For many Angelenos, it’s lowriders, gleaming fronts on our canine and incisor teeth, a purse cast in sterling silver.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2023
The researchers solved the mystery by analyzing a molar and an incisor - detecting the presence of a gene regulating a certain enamel-forming protein to reveal it was a woman.
From Reuters ● Jul. 6, 2023
With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, I realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor.
From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan
Another clue is the presence of pronounced canines that separate one set of teeth from another—the incisors from the bicuspids and molars, for instance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
I called up a few dentists to see what they might make of his incisors.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2025
Their ever-growing incisors have an additional outer layer of acid-resistant, iron-rich enamel.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 17, 2024
When the singer and songwriter Adrianne Lenker was 21, she was involved in a bike accident that knocked out one of her incisors.
From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 2024
He treated a syphilitic child and pointed out to Mr. Singer the scaling eruption on the palms of the hand, the dull, opaque surface of the eye, the sloping upper front incisors.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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.
