cavity
Americannoun
plural
cavities-
any hollow place; hollow.
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Anatomy. a hollow space within the body, an organ, a bone, etc.
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a hollow space or a pit in a tooth, most commonly produced by caries. A cavity may be artificially made to support dental restorations.
noun
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a hollow space; hole
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dentistry a soft decayed area on a tooth See caries
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any empty or hollow space within the body
the oral cavity
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electronics See cavity resonator
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A hollow; a hole.
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A hollow area within the body.
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A pitted area in a tooth caused by caries.
Usage
What is a cavity? A cavity is a pit or hole in a tooth caused by the decay of the enamel and bone, such as you might get if you don’t brush your teeth regularly.A cavity is more generally any hollow place or crater, as in When the old building was torn down, all that was left was a huge cavity in the ground.A cavity is also any other hole, divet, or pit in the body, such as the spinal cavity, which surrounds your spinal cord.Example: That cavity in your molar is probably from all the soda you drink.
Related Words
See hole.
Other Word Forms
- cavitied adjective
- subcavity noun
- uncavitied adjective
Etymology
Origin of cavity
First recorded in 1535–45; from Middle French cavite from Late Latin cavitās “hollowness,” equivalent to Latin cav(us) “hollow” + -itās -ity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Research in Taiwan found that by age nine, children who drank bubble tea regularly were 1.7 times more likely to develop cavities in their permanent teeth.
From Science Daily
The surfaces of the Brazilian specimens are pitted with small cavities.
From Science Daily
High winds and saturated ground have also toppled trees, removing nesting cavities for birds and burrows for mammals such as badgers and rabbits.
From BBC
The melting is driven mainly by relatively warm water from the deep ocean that flows into cavities beneath the ice.
From Science Daily
If you X-rayed the state of oral health care in the United States, particularly for people 65 and older, the picture would be full of cavities.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
