dental
adjectivenouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈdɛn.təl//
- United States//ˈdɛn.təl//
- United States/[ˈdɛnɾəɫ]/
- United States/[ˈdɛɾ̃əɫ]/
- United States/[ˈdɛnəɫ]/
Of or concerning the teeth.
adjective
- 1
Of or concerning the teeth.
dental care
- 2
Of or concerning dentistry.
- 3
Articulated with the tip of the tongue touching the upper front teeth or with the blade of the tongue touching the alveolar ridge, so that the tip of the tongue rests near the teeth.
dental fricative
- 4
Articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue: coronal.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-ónts Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts Proto-Italic *dents Latin dēns Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Medieval Latin dentālisder. Middle French dentalbor. ▲ Late Latin dentālisbor. English dental Borrowed from Middle French dental or Late Latin dentālis, from dēns (“a tooth”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).
noun
- 1
Cleaning and polishing of an animal's teeth.
- 2
A dental sound.
'Che Normah pronounced the name in the Malay manner, metathetically: Ruperet, the final dental initiated but not exploded.
Forms
- plural
- dentals
- comparative
- more dental
- superlative
- most dental