thorax
Americannoun
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Anatomy. the part of the trunk in humans and higher vertebrates between the neck and the abdomen, containing the cavity, enclosed by the ribs, sternum, and certain vertebrae, in which the heart, lungs, etc., are situated; chest.
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Zoology. a corresponding part in other animals.
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(in insects) the portion of the body between the head and the abdomen.
noun
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the part of the human body enclosed by the ribs
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the corresponding part in other vertebrates
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the part of an insect's body between the head and abdomen, which bears the wings and legs
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The upper part of the trunk in vertebrate animals. The thorax includes the rib cage, which encloses the heart and lungs. In mammals, the thorax lies above the abdomen and below the neck.
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The middle division of the body of an insect, to which the wings and legs are attached. The thorax lies between the head and the abdomen.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of thorax
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin thōrāx < Greek thṓrāx breastplate, part of body which this covers
Explanation
A thorax is the middle section of a body. If you’re a human, the thorax is your chest, which includes the heart and lungs. If you’re a wasp, the thorax includes the wings and legs. Also, if you’re a wasp, go away. If you feel pain in your thorax, it may be coming from sore chest muscles or a bruised rib, or it could be more serious, since your thorax includes your heart. Having a bad cough or difficulty breathing affects your thorax as well. Still, this anatomical term is most likely to be used by a doctor or a scientist such as an entomologist, a person who studies bugs. It's the same word, thorax, in both Latin and Greek, meaning "breastplate or chest."
Vocabulary lists containing thorax
Gross, Anatomy!
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Animals (Zoology) - Introductory
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Buzzwords for National Honey Bee Day
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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:
The scans revealed fine body hairs on the worker ant and even allowed researchers to visualize internal skeletal structures within the head and thorax.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2026
They’re mostly black except for yellow splotches on the top of their thorax and heads.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 24, 2023
Then the researchers studied each specimen directly and took a piece of its thorax for DNA sequencing.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 8, 2023
Another intern taught her how to spread the jam evenly, monitor the drying process, then use tweezers to assemble the head, thorax, abdomen and wings.
From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2023
One embryonic segment becomes the second section of the thorax and grows two wings.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Greeks made thoraces of hide, hemp, linen, or twisted cord.
From The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages, 3rd ed. Including Some Notices of the Ancient Historical Tapestries by Menzies, Sutherland, fl. 1840-1883
They take such a liking to this fare that, in two or three weeks, the floor of the cage is a knacker's yard strewn with heads and empty thoraces, with torn-off wings and disjointed legs.
From The Wonders of Instinct Chapters in the Psychology of Insects by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander
Three dots, each a different color, on the bees’ minuscule thoraxes before releasing them again.
From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2021
There is a family of native sweat bees with shiny green thoraxes, but the rest of their anatomy does not match Dickinson’s description.
From Slate ● May 17, 2016
To that end, he and his colleagues glued tiny radio transmitters to the thoraxes of worker bees.
From Economist ● Mar. 28, 2012
Listen carefully and you can almost hear the sound of thoraxes cracking open and fairy-winged wasps being born.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 16, 2012
All had reddish brown abdomens, with darker thoraxes and white or black heads.
From Jungle Peace by Beebe, William
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.
