occlude

American  

[uh-klood] / əˈklud /

verb (used with object)

• occludes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• occluded,
  past participle,  past
• occluding
  present participle

1. to close, shut, or stop up (a passage, opening, etc.).

   Synonyms:

   plug, block, clog, obstruct

2. to shut in, out, or off.

3. Physical Chemistry. (of certain metals and other solids) to incorporate (gases and other foreign substances), as by absorption or adsorption.

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verb (used without object)

• occludes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• occluded,
  past participle,  past
• occluding
  present participle

1. Dentistry. to shut or close, with the cusps of the opposing teeth of the upper and lower jaws fitting together.

2. Meteorology. to form an occluded front.

occlude British  

/ əˈkluːd /

verb

1. (tr) to block or stop up (a passage or opening); obstruct

2. (tr) to prevent the passage of

3. (tr) chem (of a solid) to incorporate (a substance) by absorption or adsorption

4. meteorol to form or cause to form an occluded front

5. dentistry to produce or cause to produce occlusion, as in chewing

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occlude Scientific  

/ ə-klo̅o̅d′ /

1. To force air upward from the Earth's surface, as when a cold front overtakes and undercuts a warm front.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• occludent
  adjective
• unoccluded
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• occluding
  present
• occluded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• occlude
  simple
• occludes
  simple
• have occluded
  perfect
• has occluded
  perfect
• am occluding
  progressive
• are occluding
  progressive
• is occluding
  progressive
• have been occluding
  perfect progressive
• has been occluding
  perfect progressive

Past

• occluded
  simple
• had occluded
  perfect
• was occluding
  progressive
• were occluding
  progressive
• had been occluding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will occlude
  simple
• will have occluded
  perfect
• will be occluding
  progressive
• will have been occluding
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of occlude

1590–1600; < Latin occlūdere to shut up, close up, equivalent to oc- oc- + -clūdere, combining form of claudere to close

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Explanation

Occlude means to obstruct, as with an opening. You hear this a lot in a medical context. Heart surgeons are looking for occlusions in blood vessels — things that occlude the flow of blood. Occlude does not exist only in a medical context. If you close the bathroom door so your little brother won't come in while you're trying out makeup with your friends, you're occluding the bathroom. Meanwhile, your makeup occludes your pores.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

occlude occludes occluded occluding

To improve this, Dr Alexander suggests reducing headphone use time and using the transparency mode which can amplify the background noise as well as wearing headphones that don't completely occlude or block the ears.

From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2025

It would lead to voter confusion, especially since clerks would inevitably place some stickers a few centimeters off by accident, failing to fully occlude Kennedy’s name and accidentally blocking out another.

From Slate ● Sep. 24, 2024

If clouds conspire to occlude your view, don’t fret: there are lots of sites where you can watch online.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 11, 2023

Tech companies rely on the myth of technological inevitability to occlude the business decisions they have made and the possibility of other models.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 9, 2019

In the case of vessels which it is undesirable to occlude permanently, such as the common carotid, the temporary application of a ligature or clamp is useful.

From Manual of Surgery Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. by Alexis Thomson

It’s also not feminist because it occludes the men who were killed based on the same lies.

From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2023

But I also think that the focus on Florida occludes a bigger story.

From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2023

Framing major domestic disasters through the lens of war occludes a role for civilians on the front line, displacing them from our national narratives.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2022

Finally, it occludes the extent to which history doesn’t repeat itself but does rhyme.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 25, 2018

Sometimes a portion of the clot in the sac is separated and becomes impacted as an embolus in the artery beyond, leading to thrombosis which first occludes the artery and then extends into the sac.

From Manual of Surgery Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. by Alexis Thomson

I think in some ways, this botched execution is emblematic of how everybody understands now what happens in that room, but the jurisprudence and the technologies have occluded that for most of us.

From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026

OpenAI has made similarly occluded agreements with Georgia officials.

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026

Ms. Kiri, who is on camera almost nonstop and is in close-up much of the time, expertly holds our attention as her character’s skepticism about the paranormal world becomes increasingly occluded by worry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026

“I was living in an occluded hallucination,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2024

I wished still to cry, and attempted it again; and once again, my effort failed, all tears occluded.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

With what looks like a cataract occluding one eye for extra scariness points, and a ring of long white hair curving around his otherwise bald head, he’s played with gusto by Dan Stevens.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Sadly, we are complicit in this occluding of authentic experience.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

“Concerns are held for the occupants of these two vehicles due to serious weather conditions” that have hampered the search effort, with low clouds occluding an aerial search, a spokesman for the police said.

From New York Times ● Mar. 12, 2024

This image was taken by JWST’s NIRCam, allowing it to capture previously hidden features within and behind the occluding dust.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 21, 2022

Leukocytes become more actively phagocytic, release lysosomal enzymes, turn sticky, and aggregate together in dense masses, occluding capillaries and shutting off the blood supply.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

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