thoracic
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of thoracic
1650–60; < Medieval Latin thōrācicus < Greek thōrākikós. See thorac-, -ic
Explanation
Thoracic is a medical word for things pertaining to the thorax area of your body: your chest. You’re likely to see the word thoracic in biology class. The thorax is your chest: the area between your neck and abdomen. Therefore, this area is the thoracic region, and that word can be used for issues dealing with this area. Certain exercises are thoracic because they strengthen your chest muscles. Your pectoral muscles are in the thoracic area. Your heart is the most important part of the thoracic area. If you have thoracic pains, you should see a doctor.
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.
Adam Schoenfeld, a thoracic oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering, says that if the results hold up outside of China, it could be a genuine breakthrough.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
"He was critically ill. His heart stopped as soon as he arrived. We had to perform CPR," said lead author Ankit Bharat, a thoracic surgeon at Northwestern University.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 18, 2026
“The concept of screening is to find dangerous things before they do dangerous things,” said Dr. Daniel Boffa, chief of thoracic surgery at Yale.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2024
It was almost ordinary, like watching a woman perform thoracic surgery, or change a tire, or drive a car.
From Slate ● Aug. 23, 2024
But even the segmentation genes have to have their masters: How does the second segment of the fly thorax “know” to be a thoracic segment, and not an abdominal segment?
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
