: 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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
While brushing her teeth, Sweeny snapped a photo of herself in a gray cardigan, buttoned half-way down.—
Janelle Ash,
FOXNews.com,
21 July 2026 Most of us know that people require calcium for strong bones and healthy teeth.—
Dawn Pettinelli,
Hartford Courant,
19 July 2026 These two characters have maybe two minutes of screentime between them, and yet a certain portion of the internet, and Elon Musk, have raged, gnashed teeth and howled to the wind about the way this denigrates a Greek classic.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
17 July 2026 Create a sleep hygiene routine your kids follow nightly that includes specific times to change into their pajamas and brush their teeth.—Parents,
17 July 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
Copy Citation
