TOOTH (teeth)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: teeth   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tooth mean? 

• TOOTH (noun)
  The noun TOOTH has 5 senses:

1. hard bonelike structures in the jaws of vertebrates; used for biting and chewing or for attack and defense

2. something resembling the tooth of an animal

3. toothlike structure in invertebrates found in the mouth or alimentary canal or on a shell

4. a means of enforcement

5. one of a number of uniform projections on a gear

  Familiarity information: TOOTH used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TOOTH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hard bonelike structures in the jaws of vertebrates; used for biting and chewing or for attack and defense

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

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

bone; os (rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates)

Meronyms (parts of "tooth"):

root (the embedded part of a bodily structure such as a tooth, nail, or hair)

pulp (the soft inner part of a tooth)

stump (the part of a limb or tooth that remains after the rest is removed)

crown (the part of a tooth above the gum that is covered with enamel)

cusp (small elevation on the grinding surface of a tooth)

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

dentin; dentine (bone (calcified tissue) surrounding the pulp cavity of a tooth)

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

grinder; molar (grinding tooth with a broad crown; located behind the premolars)

incisor (a tooth for cutting or gnawing; located in the front of the mouth in both jaws)

bicuspid; premolar (a tooth having two cusps or points; located between the incisors and the molars)

canine; canine tooth; cuspid; dogtooth; eye tooth; eyetooth (one of the four pointed conical teeth (two in each jaw) located between the incisors and the premolars)

baby tooth; deciduous tooth; milk tooth; primary tooth (one of the first temporary teeth of a young mammal (one of 20 in children))

adult tooth; permanent tooth (any of the 32 teeth that replace the deciduous teeth of early childhood and (with luck) can last until old age)

malposed tooth (a tooth that has grown in a faulty position)

back tooth; posterior (a tooth situated at the back of the mouth)

anterior; front tooth (a tooth situated at the front of the mouth)

carnassial tooth (the last upper premolar and first lower molar teeth of a carnivore; having sharp edges for cutting flesh)

chopper; pearly (informal terms for a human 'tooth')

conodont (the tiny fossil cone-shaped tooth of a primitive vertebrate of order Conodonta)

tusk (a long pointed tooth specialized for fighting or digging; especially in an elephant or walrus or hog)

fang (hollow or grooved tooth of a venomous snake; used to inject its poison)

Holonyms ("tooth" is a member of...):

dentition; teeth (the kind and number and arrangement of teeth (collectively) in a person or animal)

Derivation:

toothy (having or showing prominent teeth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something resembling the tooth of an animal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

projection (any structure that branches out from a central support)

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

cog; sprocket (tooth on the rim of gear wheel)

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

comb (a flat device with narrow pointed teeth on one edge; disentangles or arranges hair)

comb (any of several tools for straightening fibers)

power saw; saw; sawing machine (a power tool for cutting wood)

saw (hand tool having a toothed blade for cutting)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Toothlike structure in invertebrates found in the mouth or alimentary canal or on a shell

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("tooth" 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)

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

denticle (small pointed ridge on the exoskeleton of an arthropod)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A means of enforcement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the treaty had no teeth in it

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

agency; means; way (thing or person that acts to produce a particular effect or achieve an end)

Sense 5

Meaning:

One of a number of uniform projections on a gear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

projection (any structure that branches out from a central support)

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

cogwheel; gear; gear wheel; geared wheel (a toothed wheel that engages another toothed mechanism in order to change the speed or direction of transmitted motion)

 Context examples 

I heard that he went to a dentist's in London on the Monday morning, and had a tooth out.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Tooth enamel is the hardest material present in mammals.

(‘Game-changing’ research could solve evolution mysteries, University of Cambridge)

A benign neoplasm of tooth origin.

(Odontoma, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Our two professors sat in absorbed argument, examining piece after piece, which showed the marks of savage teeth and of enormous claws.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The tissue that forms the tooth.

(Odontogenic Tissue, NCI Thesaurus)

Vintana belongs to a group of early mammals called gondwanatherians, which had been known only from a few teeth and jaw fragments.

(Scientists discover fossil of bizarre groundhog-like mammal on Madagascar, NSF)

A benign odontogenic neoplasm arising from the epithelial component of the embryonic tooth.

(Benign Ameloblastoma, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Multiple P waves typically appear in the inferior leads in a saw tooth like pattern between the QRS complexes.

(Atrial Flutter by ECG Finding, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

What would she think if she learned that he had never washed his teeth in all the days of his life?

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

His teeth closed upon the rabbit, and he bore it back to earth with him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)