digestive system

noun

: the bodily system concerned with the ingestion, digestion, and absorption of food and the discharge of residual wastes and consisting of the digestive tract and accessory glands (such as the salivary glands and the pancreas) that secrete digestive enzymes

Examples of digestive system in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Additionally, these scans irradiate the lungs, breasts, thyroid, and digestive system which are more sensitive to the effects of ionizing radiation. —Jesse Pines, Forbes.com, 17 Apr. 2025

The full liquid diet is traditionally used to rest the digestive system before or after certain medical conditions and surgeries. —Jillian Kubala, Health, 22 Apr. 2025

The drug was developed by the Japanese pharmaceutical company Chugai, which had found a way to put some of the weight-loss features of the incretins into an oral form that wouldn’t lose all its potency and get chewed up by the acids in the stomach and digestive system. —Alice Park, Time, 17 Apr. 2025

Instead, these fibrous foods move through your digestive system, encouraging gastric emptying and reducing constipation.4 3. —Maggie O'Neill, Verywell Health, 16 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1790, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for digestive system

• cryptosystem
• ecosystem
• intersystem
• multisystem
• photosystem
• subsystem

Kids Definition

digestive system

noun

: the bodily system concerned with the intake, breakdown, and absorption of food and the discharge of wastes and that includes the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, intestine, anus, and glands (as the salivary glands)

Medical Definition

digestive system

noun

: the bodily system concerned with the ingestion, digestion, and absorption of food and the discharge of residual wastes and consisting of the digestive tract and accessory glands (such as the salivary glands and the pancreas) that secrete digestive enzymes

called also alimentary system