lungs

Cultural

A pair of organs, the principal parts of the respiratory system, at the front of the cavity of the chest, or thorax. In the lungs, oxygen from the air that is inhaled is transferred into the blood, while carbon dioxide is removed from the blood and exhaled.

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.

Children are especially vulnerable to polluted air because their lungs are still developing, they breathe more air relative to their body size, and they often spend more time outdoors, the report said.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

Doctors told the family they found scrambled eggs in her lungs.

From Salon • Apr. 21, 2026

In another experiment, the researchers delivered CRISPR-Cas9 components to mouse lungs.

From Science Daily • Apr. 20, 2026

The trouble with this was that the abductor muscles are the ones that open the trachea, allowing airflow to the lungs.

From Slate • Apr. 18, 2026

His lungs were screaming when he saw it: amid the mud and reeds, a sudden flash of green; a small scrap of phosphorescence.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023