arterial

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

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

That leads to inflammation and eventually, arterial plaques.

— jennifer couzin-frankel, Science | AAAS, "Anti-inflammatory cuts risk of heart attack," 27 Aug. 2017
His death comes just 18 months after his mother died at age 65 on Dec. 31, 2015, of pulmonary arterial hypertension, which led to heart failure.

— beth harris, USA TODAY, "Natalie Cole's only child Robert Yancy dies at 39," 16 Aug. 2017
In both studies, a long history of heavy exercise was linked to having arterial plaques.

— gretchen reynolds, New York Times, "The Toll of Exercise on the Heart (and Why You May Not Need to Worry)," 19 July 2017
One major problem is that many suburbs were built with the car in mind — with residential developments designed for moving cars in and out, and communities separated by major highways and big arterial streets.

— mary wisniewski, chicagotribune.com, "Cyclists face barriers in car-centric Chicago suburbs: study," 9 July 2017
A postscript: In December, the city reduced the maximum speed on Delridge from 35 mph to 30 mph, part of an ongoing initiative to lower arterial speeds citywide.

— mike lindblom, The Seattle Times, "Judge tosses speeding ticket in school zone over wordy city sign," 4 July 2017
On the contrary, resistance training may actually reduce arterial stiffness.

— bryant stamford, The Courier-Journal, "Stop your body from shedding muscle mass with resistance training," 29 June 2017
The PSRC study charged tolls based on miles driven, with one price for every major highway in the region and another price for every arterial street.

— david gutman, The Seattle Times, "Time for Seattle-area drivers to pay up? Tolling doesn’t get much love, but it eases gridlock," 26 June 2017
Midy began researching an alternative procedure and discovered an intra-arterial chemotherapy treatment, which goes through a major artery to the brain to infuse drugs.

— rachel stamford, OrlandoSentinel.com, "East Orange boy battles brain cancer with help from community," 13 June 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

15th century

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

The challenge has been in developing cells that can perform specific arterial functions related to regulating blood flow and reducing high blood pressure.

— andres guerra luz, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "UW, Morgridge scientists' breakthrough in engineered arteries could be used to treat heart disease," 11 July 2017
With the rapidly expanding capital’s arterial and ring roads congested with traffic, Finnish authorities are willing to try anything that has a realistic prospect of reducing the number of cars, while providing a similar level of convenience.

— peter ford, The Christian Science Monitor, "An offer Finns can't refuse? Helsinki woos car owners to give up their autos.," 23 June 2017
Previously, the closest playground was across a busy arterial and nearly a mile away.

— helen wolt, Sun-Sentinel.com, "NFL star joins volunteer effort for new playground," 23 June 2017
That’s because all of Seattle’s central-city arterials are marked and usually have much more traffic.

— jessica lee, The Seattle Times, "Frequent complaint: Too many drivers speed through Seattle’s unmarked intersections," 12 June 2017
By the 1990s, an arterial switch replaced the atrial switch, with seemingly better outcomes.

— tara haelle, Washington Post, "For women with congenital heart defects, having a baby can be risky," 4 June 2017
A similar story can be told for rural interstate highways, freeways, arterials and bridges.

— robert krol, Twin Cities, "Robert Krol: America’s highways and bridges aren’t exactly ’crumbling’," 2 June 2017
The road is a county highway, and over the years the county began planning it as a major arterial through the western edge of Kane's urban corridor.

— steve lord, Aurora Beacon-News, "Traffic noise has residents along Orchard Road in Aurora on edge," 1 June 2017
Higher traffic arterial streets such as Hawthorne Boulevard, Southeast Division Street or Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard would likely not be affected, according to a city spokesman.

— gordon r. friedman, OregonLive.com, "Bill to lower Portland speed limits heads to Gov. Kate Brown's desk," 31 May 2017

First Known Use of arterial

1920

arterial Synonyms

Synonyms

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

Related Words

causeway; autobahn, autoroute, autostrada, dual carriageway [chiefly British], interstate, motorway [chiefly British], superhighway; beltway, bypass, parkway, ring road [chiefly British]; corniche, switchback; through street; high street [British], Main Street; backstreet, branch, bystreet, byway, crossroad, secondary road, shunpike, side road, side street; alley, alleyway; circle, lane, laneway [British], mews [chiefly British], place; close [chiefly British], cul-de-sac, dead end; corridor; track, trail

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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arterial

Definition of arterial

arterially

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Recent Examples of arterial from the Web

First Known Use of arterial

arterial

Definition of arterial

Examples of arterial in a Sentence

Recent Examples of arterial from the Web

First Known Use of arterial

arterial Synonyms

Synonyms

Related Words

Medical Dictionary

arterial

medical Definition of arterial

arterially

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