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arterial

adjective ar·te·ri·al \ är-ˈtir-ē-əl \

Updated on: 14 Apr 2018

Definition of arterial

1 a : of or relating to an artery

b : relating to or being the bright red blood present in most arteries that has been oxygenated in lungs or gills

2 : of, relating to, or constituting through traffic

—

arterially

play \-ē-ə-lē\ adverb

See arterial defined for kids

Recent Examples of arterial from the Web

Naperville City Council members in a 5-3 vote directed city staff to draw up an ordinance that would prohibit the SUV-sized pub bicycles from operating in downtown Naperville and on the city’s arterial roadways.

— erin hegarty, Naperville Sun, "Naperville aims to keep pedal pubs off downtown streets, major roads," 4 Apr. 2018
Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary-tract symptoms.

— seattle times staff, The Seattle Times, "Three pet products recalled over potential salmonella contamination," 11 Feb. 2018
In those conditions, both simulation and real-world experience showed that most people stuck to the freeways and arterial roads.

— alexis c. madrigal, The Atlantic, "The Perfect Selfishness of Mapping Apps," 15 Mar. 2018
People with salmonella, especially the young and the elderly, can suffer the aforementioned symptoms and, occasionally, worse: urinary tract infections, arterial infections, endocarditis.

— david j. neal, miamiherald, "A dog treat salmonella recall expands from one product to 24 and now covers one year. | Miami Herald," 8 Mar. 2018
The depth of his staff was underscored when Cronin was unable to coach games in the 2014-15 season after being diagnosed with an arterial dissection in his brain.

— dave clark, Cincinnati.com, "Bearcats' Cronin named Sporting News Coach of the Year," 8 Mar. 2018
These arterial streets create barriers to establishing a sense of pedestrian space and human scale.

— Anchorage Daily News, "Housing alone won’t revitalize downtown Anchorage," 5 Mar. 2018
The council will review median landscaping improvements for Brookhurst and Euclid streets and Edinger Avenue beginning next fiscal year, the first of several arterial median facelifts planned through 2022.

— hillary davis, latimes.com, "Fountain Valley plans landscaping projects and restarting City Hall fountain," 2 Mar. 2018
With an average of 79 hours of congestion, the City by the Bay is tied with Boston for the highest-congestion rates on arterial and city streets during peak commute hours.

— kevin mccoy, USA TODAY, "Yep, Los Angeles has the world's worst traffic congestion — again," 6 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'arterial.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of arterial

15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

2

arterial

noun

Definition of arterial

: a through street or highway

Examples of arterial in a Sentence

one of the main arterials connecting the airport with the city

Recent Examples of arterial from the Web

Cars could still travel on those crucial arterials as well as on Westlake, but not on the side streets in between.

— danny westneat, The Seattle Times, "Getting clearer all the time: City should ban cars from South Lake Union," 21 Mar. 2018
The high-speed arterial couplets are great at moving large volumes of regional traffic.

— Anchorage Daily News, "Housing alone won’t revitalize downtown Anchorage," 5 Mar. 2018
Indian Trail is a major arterial in the city through both the East and West sides.

— steve lord, Aurora Beacon-News, "Aurora seeks to 'get traffic moving' on Indian Trail," 28 Feb. 2018
San Francisco, for example, had the highest congestion rate (tied with Boston) on arterial and city streets during the peak commute hours, while New York holds the top spot during the daytime.

— kirsten korosec, Fortune, "The 10 Most Congested Cities in the World," 5 Feb. 2018
This map from the Portland Bureau of Transportation shows all non-arterial streets.

— elliot njus, OregonLive.com, "Portland poised to drop speed limit to 20 mph on residential streets," 15 Jan. 2018
The train derailment Monday spilled cars onto the highway and closed the southbound lanes of the state's main north-south arterial.

— CBS News, "Amtrak engineer mentioned speed 6 seconds before crash, video shows," 22 Dec. 2017
The train derailment Monday that killed three people had spilled cars onto the highway and closed the southbound lanes of Washington’s main north-south arterial during the busy holiday travel period.

— Washington Post, "The Latest: Governor says Amtrak will pay derailment costs," 20 Dec. 2017
This is a generic form of another Pfizer drug, Revatio, meant for treating high blood pressure in the lungs, a condition known as pulmonary arterial hypertension.

— jc reindl, Detroit Free Press, "New generic Viagra is here, cutting pharmacy bills for Michigan men in search of erections," 11 Dec. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'arterial.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of arterial

1920

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

arterial Synonyms

Synonyms

artery, avenue, boulevard, drag, drive, expressway, freeway, high road, highway, pass, pike, road, roadway, route, row, street, thoroughfare, thruway, trace, turnpike, way;

Related Words

autoroute, interstate, superhighway;

beltway, bypass, parkway;

corniche, switchback;

through street;

backstreet, branch, bystreet, byway, crossroad, secondary road, shunpike, side road, side street;

alley, alleyway;

circle, lane, place;

cul-de-sac, dead end;

Medical Dictionary

arterial

adjective ar·te·ri·al \ är-ˈtir-ē-əl \

medical Definition of arterial

1 : of or relating to an artery

2 : relating to or being the bright red blood present in most arteries that has been oxygenated in lungs or gills — compare venous 3

—

arterially

play \-ē-ə-lē\ adverb

Learn More about arterial

See words that rhyme with arterial Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for arterial Spanish Central: Translation of arterial Nglish: Translation of arterial for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of arterial for Arabic speakers

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Examples: arterial in a Sentence