esophagus
noun
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-ˌjī
\
Definition of esophagus
: a muscular tube that conveys food from the mouth to the stomach and that in humans is about nine inches (23 centimeters) long and passes from the pharynx down the neck between the trachea and the spinal column and behind the left bronchus where it pierces the diaphragm slightly to the left of the middle line and joins the cardiac end of the stomach
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Other Words from esophagus
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adjective
Examples of esophagus in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
But when a button battery gets stuck, the battery acid can eat through the wall of the esophagus, causing lifelong disability. — Amanda Macmillan, Health.com, "A Button Battery Burned a Hole in a Toddler's Esophagus, and His Parents Are Sharing Their Scary Story," 10 May 2018 Zenker’s diverticulum is a pouch that forms where the pharynx, or voicebox, meets the esophagus. — Sandra G. Boodman, Washington Post, "She’d lost a lot of weight and had trouble swallowing. Was she dying?," 17 Mar. 2018 Research has also linked garlic intake to a lower risk of stomach, colon and esophagus cancers. — Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, "11 Best Foods For Your Immune System," 19 June 2018 As Johns Hopkins Medicine explains, the ENS is made up of two thin layers of more than 100 million nerve cells lining your gastrointestinal tract from your esophagus to your rectum. — Korin Miller, SELF, "Olympic Figure Skater Adam Rippon Speaks the Truth About Nervous Poops," 6 Apr. 2018 Blocked whale esophagus Schoelkopf recalls finding a plastic balloon that drifted onto the island and was inscribed with the name and phone number of a bar — in Indiana. — Frank Kummer, Philly.com, "Shore towns ban plastic bags, say they dirty beaches, hurt wildlife," 24 May 2018 This would be done through a surgery called an esophagectomy, which involves removing the bottom half of his esophagus and the top half of his stomach and then reconnecting the two ends. — Trihealth, Cincinnati.com, "Larry’s robotic surgery: life-saving for him, milestone for TriHealth," 2 May 2018 The operation — which would remove part of his esophagus and reconstruct it with the upper portion of his stomach — would be risky, and one of his lungs would have to be temporarily deflated during the procedure. — Ian Frisch, Longreads, "The Strike: Chemicals, Cancer, and the Fight for Health Care," 16 Apr. 2018 For most of them, the fight for equal service has moved from the lunch counter to the rest room—from the esophagus to the bladder. — Burt Solomon, The Atlantic, "Our Back Pages: The Atlantic and Civil Rights," 4 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'esophagus.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for esophagus
esophagus
noun
English Language Learners Definition of esophagus
medical : the tube that leads from the mouth through the throat to the stomach
See the full definition for esophagus in the English Language Learners Dictionary
esophagus
noun
\
Kids Definition of esophagus
: a muscular tube that leads from the mouth through the throat to the stomach
esophagus
noun
\
-ˌjī
\
Medical Definition of esophagus
: a muscular tube that in adult humans is about nine inches (23 centimeters) long and passes from the pharynx down the neck between the trachea and the spinal column and behind the left bronchus where it pierces the diaphragm slightly to the left of the middle line and joins the cardiac end of the stomach
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