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.

---

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

---

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.

---

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

---

Etymology

Origin of occlude

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

---

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

He confided to me on another night that like so many people he has tried to hire, he knows that working for Breitbart will occlude his future.

From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2017

In order to train the patient to breathe again through the larynx it is necessary to occlude the cannula.

From Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy A Manual of Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery by Chevalier Jackson

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

It is used at a dull-red heat, which sears the divided ends of the vessel and so occludes the lumen.

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

“I didn’t want my vision for the novel to be occluded by anything.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 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 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

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

His team beat Oklahoma, 21-14, in the Sugar Bowl national title game Jan. 4, 2004, and it was a matter of labor occluding art rather than today’s splashy fashion of art occluding labor.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 11, 2021

But deep in the fields the brownish stalks rise from the earth to more than twice her height, occluding her vision.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---