uvula
Americannoun
-
uvulas,
plural
-
uvulae
plural
-
the small, fleshy, conical body projecting downward from the middle of the soft palate.
-
a similar structure in any organ of the body, especially one at the opening of the bladder.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of uvula
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Medieval Latin ūvula, equivalent to Latin ūva “grape” + -ula -ule
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:
Plus, who among us learned what the uvula was just from this skit?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2024
“Sometimes the tongue will just fall back against the soft palate and the uvula and tonsils, especially in a person who has a very small airway,” he says.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2021
The other is based on a desire to avoid that floating, tickly hair in the vicinity of one’s uvula.
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2019
The lighter had gone beyond the uvula, no problem, but she still felt it at the base of her throat, struggling to get past the point where her collarbones dipped.
From The New Yorker ● May 13, 2019
You see her hand-drawn illustrations of the human mouth, the tongue, the upper and lower palates, the uvula.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
The Ephemerides and Salmuth describe uvulae so defective as to be hardly noticeable.
From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by Walter L. (Walter Lytle) Pyle
The bears roar and the men thunder back, flapping uvulas and arms to chase off the animals.
From New York Times ● Sep. 1, 2015
The father used to snip off the ends of people's uvulas for fifty guineas, and paint throats with caustic every day for a year at two guineas a time.
From The Doctor's Dilemma by Bernard Shaw
There is no reason why I should continue: This image of the essential bin is better Than the irritated uvulas of modern poets.
From The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett by Compton MacKenzie
Tonsils, vermiform appendices, uvulas, even ovaries are sacrificed because it is the fashion to get them cut out, and because the operations are highly profitable.
From The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface on Doctors by Bernard Shaw
From such trifles as uvulas and tonsils they went on to ovaries and appendices until at last no one's inside was safe.
From Heartbreak House by Bernard Shaw
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
