pituitary
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
The master gland of the endocrine system.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
puhtoouhtuhreeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pəˈtuətɛɹi
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
medicine
An extract from the pituitary gland.
anatomy
The master gland of the endocrine system; located at the base of the brain
“The pituitary releases hormones that help regulate growth and other bodily functions.”
anatomy
The pituitary gland together with the pituitary stalk.
adjective
anatomy
Of or relating to the pituitary gland
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
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Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The master gland of the endocrine system.
A dwarf whose condition is caused by a deficiency of growth hormones, rather than by genetic factors (as in the case of the achondroplastic dwarf).
The master gland of the endocrine system.
The anterior lobe of the pituitary body.
The anterior lobe of the pituitary body.
The posterior lobe of the pituitary body.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: extract from the pituitary gland
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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.