meatus

American  

[mee-ey-tuhs] / miˈeɪ təs /

noun

Anatomy.

plural

meatuses, meatus

1. an opening or foramen, especially in a bone or bony structure, as the opening of the ear or nose.

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meatus British  

/ mɪˈeɪtəs /

noun

1. anatomy a natural opening or channel, such as the canal leading from the outer ear to the eardrum

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Other Word Forms

• meatal adjective

Etymology

Origin of meatus

1655–65; < Latin meātus course, channel, equivalent to meā ( re ) to go, extend, have a course + -tus suffix of v. action

Example Sentences

In my case, the fracture tore through the meatus, cutting my inner ear off from the outside world.

From Slate • Oct. 13, 2021

Another, less comical meatus is the highway linking your outer ear—go ahead and give it a tug to let it know you’re still there—to the astonishing sound factory that is your inner ear.

From Slate • Oct. 13, 2021

The final opening of the urethra is called the meatus.

From Salon • Jul. 15, 2018

The canal enters the skull through the external auditory meatus of the temporal bone.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

Tympanic prolonged into a tubular auditory meatus, curving upwards round the base of the zygoma.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 10 "Echinoderma" to "Edward" by Various