Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Anatomically located far from a point of reference, such as an origin or a point of attachment.
- adj. Situated farthest from the middle and front of the jaw, as a tooth or tooth surface.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In anatomy, situated away from the center of the body; being at the end; terminal; peripheral: the opposite of proximal: as, the distal end of a limb, a bone, or other part or organ. Thus, the nails are at the distal ends of the fingers; the distal extremity of the thigh-bone is at the knee; the distal organs or appendages of a hydrozoan are at the end of the main stem.
Wiktionary
- adj. anatomy, geology Remote from the point of attachment or origin; as, the distal end of a bone or muscle.
- adj. dentistry Facing the wisdom tooth or temporomandibular joint on the same side of the jaw.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Remote from the point of attachment or origin
- adj. Pertaining to that which is distal.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. situated farthest from point of attachment or origin, as of a limb or bone
- adj. directed away from the midline or mesial plane of the body
Etymologies
- dist(ant) + -al1. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“These so-called distal DNA elements control the expression of faraway genes.”
“Standard treatment for ureteral cancer is surgical resection of the tumor, called a distal ureterectomy, or removal of the entire kidney, called a nephro-ureterectomy.”
“Caveat: Sedentary work was associated with cancers of the rectum and distal colon but not the proximal colon.”
The Wall Street Journal: Years of Sitting on the Job Linked to Cancer
“GreenBiz states, If we allow ourselves to be misled by false dilemmas or deceived into making unsustainable choices, distal concerns about destruction of the environment and the decline our forests will soon become a harsh and uncomfortable reality.”
Going Paperless Is Not As Green As We Might Think | Impact Lab
“In addition to the laterality of the fracture, right vs. left, the kind of fracture -- open vs. closed, location on the bone -- distal vs. proximal, and whether this was the initial or a subsequent encounter, doctors will need to be much more explicit when documenting care.”
“In this disease, the distal colon is most severely affected, and the rectum is involved in nearly all cases.”
“Kotorashvilli A, Russo S, Mulugeta S, Guttentag S, Beers M. Anterograde transport of surfactant protein C proprotein to distal processing compartments requires PPDY mediated association with Nedd4-2 ubiquitin ligases.”
“However, intraarterial infusions may induce arterial spasm, thus reducing the blood supply to the distal extremity.”
“A 57 year old male presented to his private physician with severe pain and erythema of the distal portions of several fingers on both hands.”
“The heart muscle that lies distal to this sudden blockage usually dies -- and that is how a heart attack occurs.”
The Huffington Post: An Invitation for Bill Clinton to Attend the McDougall Program
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘distal’.
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medtech
terms found in documentation for implantable medical devices and IVD equip
distal, luer, stopcock, lumen, tortuosity, anneal, flouroscopy, radiopaque, distractor, toeing, tang, endoprosthesis and 173 more...
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A Galimafrée of Plant Anatomy & Morph...
A hodgepodge, jumble, jambalaya, *gallimaufry, circus and tent revival of plant anatomy and morphology terms and phrases - its a big tent, and no tickets are required.
*array, collecti...naked bud, leaf blade, brochidodromous, serrate, cork cambium, rhizomatous, flower stalk, deciduous sepal, petal, whorl, nectar gland, stamen and 1348 more...
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AGRI - horse breeding
place bet, Przewalski's horse, piaffe, genus Claviceps, stadium jumping, draft animal, snaffle bit, noseband, equestrian sport, endurance riding, curb bit, dressage and 678 more...
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Palynology
List of terms used in the study and classification of pollen and spores - both fossil and modern.
tetrad, abporal, ectoaperture, lacuna, grain, spore, lophate, acalymmate, monad, polyad, hexad, calymmate and 513 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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Quacksalvers et al. Nostrum
Bring forth the cathartic illumination on malignant,maniacal,medical,menage a trios and more egotists stymie
culpability, piousfraud, capacitous, rhabdomyolysis, scapula, idiosyncrasy, quiescent, malignant, nefarious, sociological, sociopath, pathogen and 202 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 567 more...
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I didn't know there was a word for that!
interdigitate, aspheric, benthos, reptation, pastiche, pandiculate, agelast, obdormition, dysania, armscye, phosphene, etiolation and 62 more...
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Caseorganic's list
Words.
spiffilicioustori..., awesomesauce, sweetopian, sweetopia, neatochondria, yummaplant, antisiloization, mungachunga, neotopian, newtopian, supermodernity, distal and 1 more...
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To a point
to the point
neb, nib, cusp, dot, betoken, nadir, bespeak, eutectic, punctilio, fulcrum, stretch a point, make a point and 69 more...
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Remember Not To Forget
Sephardic, Umwelt, amphiboly, untrammeled, sequela, pandiculation, tensegrity, syncretism, pugilism, shemagh, disquisition, perspicacity and 61 more...
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erinnbatykefer's Words
ewer, lace, grenadine, wick, haruspex, augur, distal, proximal, supine, labyrinthine, rivers, monongahela and 176 more...
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Physical anthropology
acclimatization, adriatic, aegyptid, aeta, aethiopid, africoid, ainuid, aistin, alae, alare, albino, allele and 202 more...
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my words
interminable, effete, convocation, philistines, malaise, foibles, deputation, anathematized, morass, stalwart, proselytize, abet and 405 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for distal.
knitandpurl "Descending to three hundred feet above the water, they began to rake up and down the distal five-mile length of the main channel."
The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard, p 72 of the 50th anniversary edition Sep 3, 2012