dental

[ den-tl ]

adjective
  1. of or relating to the teeth.

  2. of or relating to dentistry or a dentist.

  1. Phonetics.

    • (of a speech sound) articulated with the tongue tip touching the back of the upper front teeth or immediately above them, as French t.

    • alveolar, as English t.

noun
  1. Phonetics. a dental sound.

Origin of dental

1
1585–95; <Medieval Latin dentālis, equivalent to Latin dent- (stem of dēns) tooth + -ālis-al1

Other words from dental

  • den·tal·i·ty, noun
  • den·tal·ly, adverb
  • post·den·tal, adjective, noun

Words Nearby dental

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How to use dental in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for dental

dental

/ (ˈdɛntəl) /


adjective
  1. of or relating to the teeth

  2. of or relating to dentistry

  1. phonetics

    • pronounced or articulated with the tip of the tongue touching the backs of the upper teeth, as for t in French tout

    • (esp in the phonology of some languages, such as English) another word for alveolar

noun
  1. phonetics a dental consonant

Origin of dental

1
C16: from Medieval Latin dentālis, from Latin dens tooth

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for dental

dental

[ dĕntl ]


  1. Relating to the teeth.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.