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duct

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A pipe, tube or canal which carries gas or liquid from one place to another.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

duhkt
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdʌkt

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.

noun

  1. A pipe, tube or canal which carries gas or liquid from one place to another.

  2. An enclosure or channel for electrical cable runs, telephone cables, or other conductors.

  3. anatomy

    A vessel for conveying lymph or glandular secretions such as tears or bile.

verb

  1. transitive

    To channel something (such as a gas) or propagate something (such as radio waves) through a duct or series of ducts.

  2. transitive

    To enclose in a duct.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A vessel for conveying lymph or glandular secretions such as tears or bile.

Used this way, duct is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Medicine/healthcare
  • Science
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

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

More ways to use duct

  • “The tear duct was obstructed.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Vessel / tube

bile duct

Pipe

hepatic duct

Other combinations

thoracic ductpancreatic ductduct tapecystic ductcollecting ductair duct

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • duct tapenounCompound term

    A wide silvery adhesive tape intended to seal joints in sheet metal duct work but having many other uses.

  • duct glandnounCompound term

    A gland that secretes externally through a duct.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • ductus deferensnounRelated term

    A duct that carries spermatozoa from the epididymis to the ejaculatory duct.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to channel something (such as a gas)

channel

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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.