DIGESTIVE TRACT

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does digestive tract mean? 

• DIGESTIVE TRACT (noun)
  The noun DIGESTIVE TRACT has 1 sense:

1. tubular passage of mucous membrane and muscle extending about 8.3 meters from mouth to anus; functions in digestion and elimination

  Familiarity information: DIGESTIVE TRACT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIGESTIVE TRACT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tubular passage of mucous membrane and muscle extending about 8.3 meters from mouth to anus; functions in digestion and elimination

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

alimentary canal; alimentary tract; digestive tract; digestive tube; gastrointestinal tract; GI tract

Hypernyms ("digestive tract" is a kind of...):

canal; channel; duct; epithelial duct (a bodily passage or tube lined with epithelial cells and conveying a secretion or other substance)

Meronyms (parts of "digestive tract"):

breadbasket; stomach; tum; tummy (an enlarged and muscular saclike organ of the alimentary canal; the principal organ of digestion)

esophagus; gorge; gullet; oesophagus (the passage between the pharynx and the stomach)

small intestine (the longest part of the alimentary canal; where digestion is completed)

large intestine (beginning with the cecum and ending with the rectum; includes the cecum and the colon and the rectum; extracts moisture from food residues which are later excreted as feces)

pharynx; throat (the passage to the stomach and lungs; in the front part of the neck below the chin and above the collarbone)

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

enteron (the alimentary canal (especially of an embryo or a coelenterate))

Holonyms ("digestive tract" is a part of...):

digestive system; gastrointestinal system; systema alimentarium; systema digestorium (the system that makes food absorbable into the body)

 Context examples 

Signs of bleeding in the digestive tract depend where it is and how much bleeding there is.

(Gastrointestinal Bleeding, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

Gas in the digestive tract comes from two sources: air that you swallow and the breakdown of undigested food by bacteria in the large intestine.

(Gas, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

A device used to look at the inside of the intestines and other parts of the digestive tract.

(Capsule endoscope, NCI Dictionary)

A substance, such as fiber in food, that adds bulk and water to stools so that they can pass more easily through the intestines (lower part of the digestive tract).

(Bulk-forming agent, NCI Dictionary)

Part of the answer could be the millions of tiny gut microbes living in their digestive tracts.

(Whales may owe their efficient digestion to millions of tiny microbes, National Science Foundation)

It takes pictures of the inside of the digestive tract and sends them to a small recorder that is worn on the patient’s waist or shoulder.

(Capsule endoscopy, NCI Dictionary)

A rare disorder affecting the digestive tract.

(Collagenous Sprue, NCI Thesaurus)

It's a long, hollow tube at the end of your digestive tract where your body makes and stores stool.

(Colonic Diseases, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

Starch is found in plants and is digested to release individual glucose molecules in the digestive tract that are absorbed and transported to the tissues.

(Feeder Pathways for Glycolysis, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

An autoimmune genetic disorder with an unknown pattern of inheritance that primarily affects the digestive tract.

(Celiac Disease, NCI Thesaurus)