patency

[ peyt-n-see, pat- ]

noun

1. the state of being patent.
2. Medicine/Medical. the condition of not being blocked or obstructed.
3. Phonetics. openness of articulation, found more or less in all phonemes except stops.

patency

/ ˈpeɪtənsɪ /

noun

1. the condition of being obvious
2. the state of a bodily passage, duct, etc, of being open or unobstructed
3. phonetics the degree to which the vocal tract remains unobstructed in the articulation of a speech sound See also closure

Word History and Origins

Origin of patency¹

First recorded in 1650–60; pat(ent) + -ency

Example Sentences

So that tells us at least in this case, in this one study, that the patency effect is incredibly powerful.

From Salon

Strategies that increase vessel patency have been linked to increased immune cell infiltration into tumours.

From Nature

In clinical studies the most common major adverse event associated with the stent was restenosis requiring treatment to restore patency.

From Forbes

It is clear that they thus secured patency of the air-passages after these had become occluded.

From Project Gutenberg

"I think it is interesting, this extracellular matrix that can be refrigerated, but they have not proven in their study that there's any improved patency of this over anything else that's out there right now."

From Scientific American