oral

American  

[awr-uhl] / ˈɔr əl /

adjective

1. uttered by the mouth; spoken.

   oral testimony.

2. of, using, or transmitted by speech.

   oral methods of language teaching; oral traditions.

3. of, relating to, or involving the mouth.

   the oral cavity.

4. done, taken, or administered through the mouth.

   an oral dose of medicine.

5. Phonetics. articulated with none of the voice issuing through the nose, as the normal English vowels and the consonants b and v.

6. Psychoanalysis.

   1. of or relating to the earliest phase of infantile psychosexual development, lasting from birth to one year of age or longer, during which pleasure is obtained from eating, sucking, and biting.

   2. of or relating to the sublimation of feelings experienced during the oral stage of childhood.

      oral anxiety.

   3. of or relating to gratification by stimulation of the lips or membranes of the mouth, as in sucking, eating, or talking

7. Zoology. pertaining to that surface of polyps and marine animals that contains the mouth and tentacles.

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noun

• orals
  plural

1. an oral examination in a school, college, or university, given especially to a candidate for an advanced degree.

oral British  

/ ˈɒrəl, ˈɔːrəl /

adjective

1. spoken or verbal

   an oral agreement

2. relating to, affecting, or for use in the mouth

   an oral thermometer

3. of or relating to the surface of an animal, such as a jellyfish, on which the mouth is situated

4. denoting a drug to be taken by mouth Compare parenteral

   an oral contraceptive

5. of, relating to, or using spoken words

6. phonetics pronounced with the soft palate in a raised position completely closing the nasal cavity and allowing air to pass out only through the mouth

7. psychoanal

   1. relating to a stage of psychosexual development during which the child's interest is concentrated on the mouth

   2. denoting personality traits, such as dependence, selfishness, and aggression, resulting from fixation at the oral stage Compare anal genital phallic

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noun

1. an examination in which the questions and answers are spoken rather than written

oral Scientific  

/ ôr′əl /

1. Relating to or involving the mouth.

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Usage

See verbal.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• orality
  noun
• nonoral
  adjective
• postoral
  adjective
• suboral
  adjective
• unoral
  adjective
• orally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• orals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of oral

First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin ōr- (stem of ōs ) “mouth” (cognate with Sanskrit āsya ) + -al ¹

Explanation

The word oral means having to do with the mouth or speaking. When you give an oral report in school, you stand in front of the class and talk. Use the adjective oral to describe something that's spoken aloud, like an oral exam or an oral history passed between generations through bedtime stories. Oral is also good for referring to other things you do with your mouth — your dentist may drive you crazy talking about "oral hygiene," or keeping your teeth clean. The roots of the word oral go back to the Latin word for "mouth," which is os.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

oral orals

Eli Lilly has launched its Foundayo weight-loss pill in the U.K., making the country the first in Europe to offer the oral treatment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

"We hope oral health assessment may eventually become part of personalized risk stratification and perioperative management for pancreatic cancer patients."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026

The appellate panel voiced serious doubts about undoing the consent decree at oral arguments in June.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

Another function is to translate a jumble of oral commands into a clear and concise text message.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

I discussed Dante's prior diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder following the attempted murder of his mother in my oral argument before the Mississippi Supreme Court.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

Some schools had, however, considered holding orals and practical assessments remotely if possible.

From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2020

"It was a nice novel about a graduate student taking his orals to get his teaching credentials," he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2015

“Historically, Liverpool has been a blue-collar port city,” added Mr. Lee, 24, as thoughtful as if he were delivering his orals at graduate school.

From New York Times ● Apr. 16, 2014

If a student does poorly, the orals can be repeated.

From New York Times ● Aug. 27, 2012

The delegates “practically lived together,” Bacher recalled, cramming on the technical aspects of test monitoring like grad students preparing for their orals.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik