cortex
noun
Simple meaning
The tissue forming the outer layer of an organ or structure in plant or animal.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kawrteksSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɔɹtɛks
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The tissue forming the outer layer of an organ or structure in plant or animal
countableanatomy
The outer layer of an internal organ or body structure, such as the kidney or the brain.
The tissue that surrounds the lens nucleus
uncountablebotany
The tissue of a stem or root that lies inward from the epidermis, but exterior to the vascular tissue.
archaeology
The outer surface of a piece of flint.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The tissue forming the outer layer of an organ or structure in plant or animal
Used this way, cortex is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The cortical area that receives auditory information from the medial geniculate body.
The layer of unmyelinated neurons (the grey matter) forming the cortex of the cerebrum.
That part of the cerebral cortex in either hemisphere of the brain lying directly behind the forehead.
The tissue that surrounds the lens nucleus.
The cortical area that influences motor movements.
That part of the cerebral cortex in either hemisphere of the brain lying in the back of the head.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: tissue forming the outer layer of an organ
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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.