respiratory system


nounAnatomy.
  1. the system by which oxygen is taken into the body and an exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place; in mammals the system includes the nasal passages, pharynx, trachea, bronchi, and lungs.

Origin of respiratory system

1
First recorded in 1935–40

Words Nearby respiratory system

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use respiratory system in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for respiratory system

respiratory system

noun
  1. the specialized organs, collectively, concerned with external respiration: in humans and other mammals it includes the trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, lungs, and diaphragm

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for respiratory system

respiratory system

  1. The system of organs and structures in which gas exchange takes place, consisting of the lungs and airways in air-breathing vertebrates, gills in fish and many invertebrates, the outer covering of the body in worms, and specialized air ducts in insects.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for respiratory system

respiratory system

[ (res-puh-ruh-tawr-ee) ]


The organs in the body involved in respiration. Air enters the body through the nose and mouth and travels down the trachea, through the bronchial tubes, and finally into the lungs. Once in the lungs, the air is drawn into an enormous number of thin-walled sacs richly supplied with capillaries. The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood takes place in these tiny sacs.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.