CAVITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does cavity mean? 

• CAVITY (noun)
  The noun CAVITY has 4 senses:

1. a sizeable hole (usually in the ground)

2. space that is surrounded by something

3. soft decayed area in a tooth; progressive decay can lead to the death of a tooth

4. (anatomy) a natural hollow or sinus within the body

  Familiarity information: CAVITY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CAVITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sizeable hole (usually in the ground)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

cavity; pit

Context example:

they dug a pit to bury the body

Hypernyms ("cavity" is a kind of...):

hole; hollow (a depression hollowed out of solid matter)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cavity"):

trou-de-loup (a sloping pit with a stake in the middle used as an obstacle to the enemy)

tar pit (a natural accumulation of bitumens at the surface of the earth; often acts as a trap for animals whose bones are thus preserved)

sawpit (a pit over which lumber is positioned to be sawed by two men with a long two-handed saw)

sandpit (a large pit in sandy ground from which sand is dug)

quicksand (a pit filled with loose wet sand into which objects are sucked down)

fire pit (a pit whose floor is incandescent lava)

divot ((golf) the cavity left when a piece of turf is cut from the ground by the club head in making a stroke)

borrow pit (a pit created to provide earth that can be used as fill at another site)

barbecue pit (a pit where wood or charcoal is burned to make a bed of hot coals suitable for barbecuing meat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Space that is surrounded by something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

cavity; enclosed space

Hypernyms ("cavity" is a kind of...):

space (an empty area (usually bounded in some way between things))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cavity"):

hollow (a cavity or space in something)

pocket; pouch; sac; sack (an enclosed space)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Soft decayed area in a tooth; progressive decay can lead to the death of a tooth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

caries; cavity; dental caries; tooth decay

Hypernyms ("cavity" is a kind of...):

decay (the process of gradually becoming inferior)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(anatomy) a natural hollow or sinus within the body

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

bodily cavity; cavity; cavum

Hypernyms ("cavity" is a kind of...):

anatomical structure; bodily structure; body structure; complex body part; structure (a particular complex anatomical part of a living thing and its construction and arrangement)

Domain category:

anatomy; general anatomy (the branch of morphology that deals with the structure of animals)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cavity"):

laryngopharynx (the lower part of the pharynx)

bursa omentalis; lesser peritoneal cavity; omental bursa (an isolated part of the peritoneal cavity that is dorsal to the stomach)

pericardial cavity; pericardial space (the space between the layers of the pericardium that contains fluid that lubricates the membrane surfaces and allows easy heart movement)

vacuole (a tiny cavity filled with fluid in the cytoplasm of a cell)

ventricle (one of four connected cavities in the brain; is continuous with the central canal of the spinal cord and contains cerebrospinal fluid)

sac (a structure resembling a bag in an animal)

uterine cavity (the space inside the uterus between the cervical canal and the Fallopian tubes)

nasal cavity (either of the two cavities lying between the floor of the cranium and the roof of the mouth and extending from the face to the pharynx)

nasopharynx (cavity forming the upper part of the pharynx)

oropharynx (cavity formed by the pharynx at the back of the mouth)

archenteron (central cavity of the gastrula; becomes the intestinal or digestive cavity)

blind gut; caecum; cecum (the cavity in which the large intestine begins and into which the ileum opens)

tubular cavity (a cavity having the shape of a tube)

armpit; axilla; axillary cavity; axillary fossa (the hollow under the arm where it is joined to the shoulder)

chest cavity; thoracic cavity (the cavity in the vertebrate body enclosed by the ribs between the diaphragm and the neck and containing the lungs and heart)

abdomen; abdominal cavity (the cavity containing the major viscera; in mammals it is separated from the thorax by the diaphragm)

pelvis; renal pelvis (a structure shaped like a funnel in the outlet of the kidney into which urine is discharged before passing into the ureter)

pelvic cavity (the space bounded by the bones of the pelvis and containing the pelvic viscera)

celom; celoma; coelom (a cavity in the mesoderm of an embryo that gives rise in humans to the pleural cavity and pericardial cavity and peritoneal cavity)

fossa; pit (a concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical depression))

amniotic cavity (the fluid-filled cavity that surrounds the developing embryo)

blastocele; blastocoel; blastocoele; cleavage cavity; segmentation cavity (the fluid-filled cavity inside a blastula)

sinus (any of various air-filled cavities especially in the bones of the skull)

locule; loculus (a small cavity or space within an organ or in a plant or animal)

lumen (a cavity or passage in a tubular organ)

socket (a bony hollow into which a structure fits)

pulp cavity (the central cavity of a tooth containing the pulp (including the root canal))

cranial orbit; eye socket; orbit; orbital cavity (the bony cavity in the skull containing the eyeball)

buccal cavity (the cavity between the jaws and the cheeks)

cloaca ((zoology) the cavity (in birds, reptiles, amphibians, most fish, and monotremes but not mammals) at the end of the digestive tract into which the intestinal, genital, and urinary tracts open)

vestibule (any of various bodily cavities leading to another cavity (as of the ear or vagina))

mediastinum (the part of the thoracic cavity between the lungs that contains the heart and aorta and esophagus and trachea and thymus)

middle ear; tympanic cavity; tympanum (the main cavity of the ear; between the eardrum and the inner ear)

pleural cavity (the cavity in the thorax that contains the lungs and heart)

chamber (an enclosed volume in the body)

cranial cavity; intracranial cavity (the cavity enclosed by the cranium)

greater peritoneal sac; peritoneal cavity (the interior of the peritoneum; a potential space between layers of the peritoneum)

antrum (a natural cavity or hollow in a bone)

Holonyms ("cavity" is a part of...):

body; organic structure (the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being))

 Context examples 

A malignant mesothelioma that arises from the peritoneum and has spread in the abdominal cavity.

(Advanced Peritoneal Malignant Mesothelioma, NCI Thesaurus)

Fat-storing cells found mostly in the abdominal cavity and subcutaneous tissue.

(Adipocyte, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The appendiceal wall rupture causes the release of inflammatory and bacterial contents from the appendiceal lumen into the abdominal cavity.

(Acute Perforated Appendicitis, NCI Thesaurus)

They include the oral cavity, sinonasal tract, pharynx, pyriform sinus, larynx, trachea, and esophagus.

(Aerodigestive tract, NCI Thesaurus)

An anaplastic meningioma that arises within the cranial cavity.

(Anaplastic (Malignant) Intracranial Meningioma, NCI Thesaurus)

The aspect of the kidney facing the abdominal cavity.

(Anterior Surface of the Kidney, NCI Thesaurus)

A type of pregnancy which starts with the embryo in the interstitial section of the fallopian tube, which then grows into the uterine cavity.

(Angular Pregnancy, NCI Thesaurus)

A. viscosus is a commensal organism of the human oral cavity.

(Actinomyces viscosus, NCI Thesaurus)

A. suis is a commensal organism of the oral cavity and reproductive tract of pigs but may cause abortion, hemorrhage and embolic lesions in immunocompromised pigs.

(Actinobacillus suis, NCI Thesaurus)

Ectopic pregnancy characterized by the implantation of the embryo in the peritoneal cavity or abdominal organs.

(Abdominal Pregnancy, NCI Thesaurus)