incisor

[ in-sahy-zer ]

noun

, Dentistry.

1. any of the four anterior teeth in each jaw, used for cutting and gnawing.

incisor

/ ɪnˈsaɪzə /

noun

1. a chisel-edged tooth at the front of the mouth. In man there are four in each jaw

incisor

/ ĭn-sī′zər /

1. A sharp-edged tooth in mammals that is adapted for cutting or gnawing. The incisors are located in the front of the mouth between the canine teeth.

Word History and Origins

Origin of incisor¹

1665–75; < New Latin: literally, cutter, equivalent to Latin incīd ( ere ) to incise + -tor -tor, with -dt- > -s-

Example Sentences

To learn more about the composition of rodent tooth enamel, Vesna Srot and colleagues captured high-resolution images of incisor specimens from several species.

From Science Daily

Building on techniques previously developed by Campàs, in which minute droplets inserted between developing embryonic cells sense the forces exerted by cells on each other, and through observations of an embryonic incisor tooth, the researchers found that pressure influences a cell's fate -- they feel the squeeze and use this information to organize themselves.

From Science Daily

"Just imagine that happening in a confined space. What happens in the incisor knot is that the cells multiply in number in a fixed space and this causes a pressure to build up at the center, which then becomes a cluster of specialized cells."

From Science Daily

For many Angelenos, it’s lowriders, gleaming fronts on our canine and incisor teeth, a purse cast in sterling silver.

From Los Angeles Times

The researchers solved the mystery by analyzing a molar and an incisor - detecting the presence of a gene regulating a certain enamel-forming protein to reveal it was a woman.

From Reuters

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