vascular

American  

[vas-kyuh-ler] / ˈvæs kyə lər /

Also vasculose

adjective

Biology.

1. pertaining to, composed of, or provided with vessels or ducts that convey fluids, as blood, lymph, or sap.

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vascular British  

/ ˌvæskjʊˈlærɪtɪ, ˈvæskjʊlə /

adjective

1. biology anatomy of, relating to, or having vessels that conduct and circulate liquids

   a vascular bundle

   the blood vascular system

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vascular Scientific  

/ văs′kyə-lər /

1. Relating to the vessels of the body, especially the arteries and veins, that carry blood and lymph.

2. Relating to or having xylem and phloem, plant tissues highly specialized for carrying water, dissolved nutrients, and food from one part of a plant to another. Ferns and all seed-bearing plants have vascular tissues; bryophytes, such as mosses, do not.

3. See more at phloem xylem

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Other Word Forms

• hypervascular adjective
• hypervascularity noun
• intervascular adjective
• nonvascular adjective
• nonvascularly adverb
• nonvasculose adjective
• nonvasculous adjective
• unvascular adjective
• unvascularly adverb
• unvasculous adjective
• vascularity noun
• vascularly adverb

Etymology

Origin of vascular

From the New Latin word vāsculāris, dating back to 1665–75. See vasculum, -ar ¹

Explanation

Use the adjective vascular when you're talking about blood vessels. One side effect of long-term smoking is vascular disease. The word vascular comes up in medicine and anatomy whenever there's discussion of the circulatory system, the series of vessels carrying blood around the body. Plants have vascular systems too, to carry water and nutrients throughout their systems. The word vascular comes from the Latin vascularis, "of or pertaining to vessels or tubes."

Example Sentences

A postmortem examination identified that Frost suffered from significant cardiac disease and significant vascular disease.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026

"These vascular measures are capturing something meaningful about brain health," said Meredith N. Braskie, PhD, senior author of the study and assistant professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine.

From Science Daily • Feb. 24, 2026

The researchers also observed that people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or dementia showed weaker vascular function compared to cognitively normal participants.

From Science Daily • Feb. 24, 2026

It is common for someone, for example, to have cognitive symptoms caused by another source, such as vascular disease in the brain.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 10, 2026

It was spirit of the body—the clear fluid pumped by the second heart through its own network of vessels, subtler and more mysterious than the primary vascular system.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor