alveolar

adjective

Simple meaning

Formed with the tongue touching or approaching the inner ridge of the gums of the upper front teeth.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

alveeuhler

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ælˈviəlɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

phonetics
Formed with the tongue touching or approaching the inner ridge of the gums of the upper front teeth.
anatomyrelational
Relating to the alveoli (small air sacs) of the lungs.
anatomyrelational
Relating to the jaw ridge containing the tooth sockets.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: C2 · Proficient
Frequency: Uncommon
Typical Use: Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (phonetics) Formed with the tongue touching or approaching the inner ridge of the gums of the upper front teeth.

Used this way, alveolar is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a grammar or language-study use: it describes how language works, so it appears in teaching and reference writing.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Formal
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Formal and precise

Where it naturally appears

Academic writing
Education/classroom
Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

Comfortable in writing and prepared speech; in casual conversation a shorter everyday word usually sounds more natural.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

alveolar bonealveolar processalveolar ridgealveolar nervealveolar pressurealveolar ventilationalveolar airalveolar wall

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

alveolar archnounCompound term
The part of the upper or lower jawbones in which the teeth are set.
alveolar arterynounCompound term
A branch of the maxillary artery that supplies the alveolar process.
alveolar bednounCompound term
Lung tissue densely packed with alveoli.
alveolar consonantnounCompound term
A consonant articulated with the tip of the tongue near the gum ridge.
alveolar ectasianounCompound term
Abnormal enlargement of the air sacs in the lungs.
alveolar pointnounCompound term
Craniometric point that is the most anterior point in the midline on the alveolar process of the maxilla.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

arteria alveolarisnounRelated term
A branch of the maxillary artery that supplies the alveolar process.
arteria alveolaris inferiornounRelated term
The alveolar artery that goes through the mandibular canal to supply the lower teeth.
arteria alveolaris superiornounRelated term
The alveolar artery that supplies the upper teeth.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.