alveolar

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: al=ve=o=lar

CIDE DICTIONARY

alveolar, a. [L. alveolus a small hollow or cavity: cf. F. alvéolaire.].

•  Of, pertaining to, or resembling, alveoli or little cells, sacs, or sockets.  [1913 Webster]
•  Articulated with the tip of the tongue pressing against the alveolar processes of the upper front teeth.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Alveolar processes, the processes of the maxillary bones, containing the sockets of the teeth.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

alveolar, adj.
1 of an alveolus.
2 Phonet. (of a consonant) pronounced with the tip of the tongue in contact with the ridge of the upper teeth, e.g. n, s, t.

Etymology

ALVEOLUS + -AR(1)

THESAURUS

alveolar

accented, alveolate, apical, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, articulated, assimilated, back, barytone, bilabial, broad, cacuminal, central, cerebral, checked, close, consonant, consonantal, continuant, dental, dented, depressed, dimpled, dissimilated, dorsal, engraved, faveolate, flat, front, glide, glossal, glottal, guttural, hard, heavy, high, honeycombed, indented, intonated, labial, labiodental, labiovelar, lateral, lax, light, lingual, liquid, low, mid, monophthongal, muted, narrow, nasal, nasalized, notched, occlusive, open, oxytone, palatal, palatalized, pharyngeal, pharyngealized, phonemic, phonetic, phonic, pitch, pitched, pitted, pocked, pockmarked, posttonic, retroflex, rounded, semivowel, soft, sonant, stopped, stressed, strong, surd, syllabic, tense, thick, throaty, tonal, tonic, twangy, unaccented, unrounded, unstressed, velar, vocalic, vocoid, voiced, voiceless, vowel, vowellike, weak, wide

ROGET THESAURUS

alveolar

Sponge

N sponge, honeycomb, network, frit, filter, sieve, net, screen (opening), cellular, spongy, spongious, honeycombed, alveolar, sintered, porous (opening).