syringe
Americannoun
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a small device consisting of a glass, metal, or hard rubber tube, narrowed at its outlet, and fitted with either a piston or a rubber bulb for drawing in a quantity of fluid or for ejecting fluid in a stream, for cleaning wounds, injecting fluids into the body, etc.
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any similar device for pumping and spraying liquids through a small aperture.
verb (used with object)
noun
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med an instrument, such as a hypodermic syringe or a rubber ball with a slender nozzle, for use in withdrawing or injecting fluids, cleaning wounds, etc
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any similar device for injecting, spraying, or extracting liquids by means of pressure or suction
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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syringesimple
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syringessimple
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have syringedperfect
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has syringedperfect
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am syringingprogressive
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are syringingprogressive
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is syringingprogressive
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have been syringingperfect progressive
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has been syringingperfect progressive
Past
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syringedsimple
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had syringedperfect
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was syringingprogressive
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were syringingprogressive
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had been syringingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of syringe
1375–1425; new singular formed from Late Latin sȳringēs, plural of sȳrinx syrinx; replacing late Middle English syring < Medieval Latin syringa
Explanation
A syringe is used, usually by a doctor or nurse, to inject or withdraw a fluid from your body. A syringe is a medical tool used for several purposes, but they all involve liquids going in or out of your body. A flu shot is given with a syringe: that's a liquid going in. A blood sample is taken with a syringe: that's liquid coming out. Part of a syringe is a needle, so patients usually don't like them. Syringes should only be used by medical professionals.
Vocabulary lists containing syringe
"Working Toward Peace," Vocabulary from the personal essay
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for January 1–January 7, 2022
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This Week In Words: Current Events Vocab for January 30–February 5, 2021
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Their theory was that the descending column of water acted somewhat like a syringe, pushing air through the shaft as it fell.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 6, 2026
The Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve the Eylea HD syringe.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
And it turns out there’s an ingenious, inexpensive little invention that combines the pacifier with the medicine syringe.
From Slate ● May 17, 2026
What followed was a comedy of errors including military drills that outpaced anything this group of office workers had in mind, a rogue porcupine, stranded airplanes and one syringe to the butt of an employee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
In a gap between two tunnels, a nurse was delicately probing with a long fine syringe into the gelatinous contents of a passing bottle.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Schott Pharma, which makes packaging and delivery systems for injectable medications, attributes the guidance raise to a strong performance and a new agreement with a customer for glass syringes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
But some firms appear to be exploiting the supply crunch by stockpiling syringes and selling them at higher prices, according to the ministry.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
The federal health minister, however, has confirmed publicly that the outbreak of 84 cases was triggered by the reuse of contaminated syringes at the hospital.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
SACRAMENTO—Inside an exam room at this bustling Planned Parenthood center, a clinician prepared six syringes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
There are a few syringes sealed in sterile plastic on a table near Beetee’s bed.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
As a last resort, however, a child may be held and the medicine carefully syringed in.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2021
But it was a two-person task to administer her critical-care rabbit food, a powdered blend of timothy grass and soybean hulls to be mixed with warm water and syringed thrice daily past Judy’s unfriendly teeth.
From New York Times ● Nov. 9, 2018
Of course, it’s a misconception that everything punk was just three chords syringed with a whole lot of distortion and anarchy.
From Time ● Jul. 17, 2014
One recent example was someone who was struggling to get an appointment to have their ears syringed.
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2013
The house must be fumigated, and the trees syringed on the least appearance of aphis.
From The Book of Pears and Plums by Bartrum, Edward
Micro-suction treatment has replaced syringing where GPs removed wax by injecting water into the ear with a large metal syringe.
From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2022
Other greens on the back nine were watered too, but the syringing began before anyone had played the holes.
From Golf Digest ● Jun. 12, 2018
Dr Jessen said: "I advised them to use olive oil as drops. Olive oil is anti-bacterial, antiseptic and softening - they may not need their ears syringing after using that."
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2013
We find her in the lab, syringing gas out of a plastic vial in which a raisin-sized rat turd has been incubating at ninety-nine degrees.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2013
In the vinery and peach-house, attend to the keeping down of insects by syringing; and promote the growth of the young shoots, by damping the walls and paths morning and evening.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 7 "Horticulture" to "Hudson Bay" by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
