maxillary
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Of or relating to the upper jaw.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
maksilereeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
mækˈsɪlɚi
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.
adjective
anatomy
Of or relating to the upper jaw
anatomy
Of or relating to the jaw or jawbone.
zootomy
Of or pertaining to the maxillae of an arthropod.
noun
anatomy
A tooth growing from the upper jawbone.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or relating to the upper jaw
Used this way, maxillary 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.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Either of two arteries branching from the external carotid artery and supplying structure of the face.
One of a pair of sinuses forming a cavity in the maxilla.
Posterior continuation of the pterygoid plexus.
The maxillary artery that supplies deep structure of the face and some of the meninges.
An artery that originates in the external carotid and gives off branches that supply the neck and face.
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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.