premolar

American  

[pree-moh-ler] / priˈmoʊ lər /

adjective

1. situated in front of the molar teeth.

2. pertaining to a milk tooth that will later be supplanted by a permanent molar.

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noun

• premolars
  plural

1. a premolar tooth.

2. Also called bicuspid.  (in humans) any of eight teeth located in pairs on each side of the upper and lower jaws between the cuspids and molar teeth.

premolar British  

/ priːˈməʊlə /

adjective

1. situated before a molar tooth

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noun

1. any one of eight bicuspid teeth in the human adult, two situated on each side of both jaws between the first molar and the canine

premolar Scientific  

/ prē-mō′lər /

1. Any of eight bicuspid teeth in mammals, arranged in pairs on both sides of the upper and lower jaws between the canines and molars. Premolars are used to tear and grind food.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• premolars
  plural

Etymology

Origin of premolar

First recorded in 1835–45; pre- + molar ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

premolar premolars

But bats with short jaws, including most fruit-eating bats, tended to ditch the middle premolar or the back molar, if not both.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2023

Until recently, the only reliable way to determine the age of a polar bear has been to extract a premolar and inspect its growth rings.

From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2023

Mr. Biden began experiencing dental pain in his lower right premolar on Sunday, according to a letter from White House physician Kevin O’Connor.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 12, 2023

Biden’s personal physician, Kevin O’Connor, said in a memo released by the White House that Biden reported the pain in his lower right premolar on Sunday.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 12, 2023

The characters given to separate ‘Eutamias’ from Tamias are based only on the absence or presence of the functionless premolar, and on the colour pattern.

From Genera and Subgenera of Chipmunks by John A. White

Nor the “bizarrely specialized” family of carnivorous marsupials, Malleodectidae, which used their massive ball peen-like third premolars to crush snails.

From Salon ● Feb. 17, 2025

The team used CT scans and other methods to analyze the shapes and sizes of jaws, premolars and molars in more than 100 noctilionoid species.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2023

One such group—the multituberculates—flourished in the Cretaceous underworld, using their saw-blade premolars and gnawing incisors to devour a new type of food: fruits and flowers.

From Scientific American ● May 17, 2022

Toasted just enough to bring out its subtly nutty flavor and, thus, pebbly enough to reduce one of my favorite premolars into a crumble of toothy dust.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 27, 2021

The incisors are chisel-shaped, and the canines tend to become isolated so as in the now specialized forms to occupy nearly the middle of a longer or shorter gap between the incisors and premolars.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 7 "Equation" to "Ethics" by Various