: one of the hard bony appendages that are borne on the jaws or in many of the lower vertebrates on other bones in the walls of the mouth or pharynx and serve especially for the prehension and mastication of food and as weapons of offense and defense
b
: any of various usually hard and sharp processes especially about the mouth of an invertebrate
2
: a projection resembling or suggesting the tooth of an animal in shape, arrangement, or action
a saw tooth
: such as
a
: any of the regular projections on the circumference or sometimes the face of a wheel that engage with corresponding projections on another wheel especially to transmit force : cog
b
: a small sharp-pointed marginal lobe or process on a plant
3
a
teeth plural: effective means of enforcement
drug laws with teeth
b
: something that injures, tortures, devours, or destroys
C dentition of adult human (upper) D dentition of adult human (lower)
1 incisors
2 canines
3 bicuspids
4 molars
Examples of tooth in a Sentence
The dentist will have to pull that tooth.
You should brush your teeth every morning and night.
She clenched her teeth in anger.
He has a set of false teeth.
the teeth of a saw
The labor union showed that it has teeth.
Recent Examples on the Web
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Jenna, a wedding photographer (yes, for real), who makes it out of this week by the skin of her teeth.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
24 Sep. 2026 Odin is a bionic dog, with titanium teeth and a prosthetic foot from injuries sustained during wartime, but nothing slows him down, not even a plane crash.—
Katie Walsh,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Sep. 2026 Officials called an ambulance after the man reported injuries to his head, neck and teeth.—
Julianna Bragg,
CNN Money,
24 Sep. 2026 Meanwhile, police in Evanston, Illinois, are investigating an incident in which a man reported injuries to his head, neck and teeth after ICE officers mistakenly targeted him.—
Josh Feldman,
NBC news,
23 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for tooth
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Old English tōth; akin to Old High German zand tooth, Latin dent-, dens, Greek odont-, odous
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Time Traveler
The first known use of tooth was
before the 12th century
: any of the hard bony appendages that are borne on the jaws and serve especially for the prehension and mastication of food see milk tooth, permanent tooth
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