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internal ear

American  

noun

  1. the inner portion of the ear, involved in hearing and balance, consisting of a bony labyrinth that is composed of a vestibule, semicircular canals, and a cochlea and that encloses a membranous labyrinth.


internal ear British  

noun

  1. Also called: inner ear.   labyrinth.  the part of the ear that consists of the cochlea, vestibule, and semicircular canals

"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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This design feature is inspired by the multiple synaptic connections between hair cells in the internal ear and neurons, providing a backup should one pathway fail.

From Science Daily • Jan. 13, 2024

The reader has an internal ear: so must the writer.

From The Guardian • Oct. 7, 2017

Ama was a wine vessel used in the early Christian Church, also a medical term for "an enlargement of the semicircular canal of the internal ear."

From Time Magazine Archive

And still the strange tumult, that was more than half made of vibrations too slow for sound-waves, beat upon her nerves like an injury to the internal ear.

From Atlantic Narratives Modern Short Stories by Ashe, Elizabeth

The same is true of the internal ear.

From The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume I, No. 8, August, 1880 by Walker, Aaron

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