Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Spoken rather than written. See Usage Note at verbal.
- adj. Of or relating to the mouth: oral surgery.
- adj. Used in or taken through the mouth: an oral thermometer; an oral vaccine.
- adj. Consisting of or using speech: oral instruction.
- adj. Linguistics Articulated through the mouth only, with the nasal passages closed.
- adj. Psychology Of or relating to the first stage of psychosexual development in psychoanalytic theory, from birth to about 18 months, during which the mouth is the chief focus of exploration and pleasure. The oral stage is followed by the anal stage.
- n. An academic examination in which questions and answers are spoken rather than written. Often used in the plural.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of or pertaining to the mouth or ingestive opening: as, the oral orifice; oral surgery; oral gestation.
- Uttered by the mouth or in words; spoken, not written: as, oral traditions; oral testimony; oral law.
- Using or concerned with speech only, and not writing; communicating instruction, etc., by word of mouth; viva voce.
- In zoology, situated on the same part or side of the body as the mouth: opposed to aboral or anal.
- n. In crinoids, same as oral valve (which see, under oral).
Wiktionary
- adj. Relating to the mouth.
- adj. Spoken rather than written.
- n. A spoken test or examination, particularly in a language class.
- n. A physical examination of the mouth.
- n. oral sex.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Uttered by the mouth, or in words; spoken, not written; verbal.
- adj. Of or pertaining to the mouth; surrounding or lining the mouth.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. using speech rather than writing
- adj. a stage in psychosexual development when the child's interest is concentrated in the mouth; fixation at this stage is said to result in dependence, selfishness, and aggression
- adj. of or involving the mouth or mouth region or the surface on which the mouth is located
- adj. of or relating to or affecting or for use in the mouth
- n. an examination conducted by spoken communication
Etymologies
- Late Latin ōrālis, from Latin ōs, ōr-, mouth; see ōs- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“The oral reproduction of the stories by the children is the best possible _oral language_ drill, while their partial written review is the basis of much of the regular _composition_ work.”
The Elements of General Method Based on the Principles of Herbart
“And those lucky people who haven’t had oral yet still haven’t had oral haha.”
“Use condoms or avoid sex, including what we call oral sex because society does not like to use the terms fellatio and cunnilingus.”
“However, be there this distinction betwixt them, or some other, or indeed none at all, yet I presume they were both doctors of traditions, and expounders of that which they called the oral law, in opposition to the scribes, whether amongst the Jews or the Sadducees, who employed themselves in the textual exposition of the law.”
“But he was best known for his books which he called oral histories.”
“PER-I-OD. teaching kids, during a sex ed class that some people engage in oral, anal and penile vaginal sex, and the various relative risks of each behavior is NOT making a moral value judgment.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Sex Education, Dirty Words, and the Due Process Clause
“As to the part about me being a woman having anything to do with this — that probably goes back to the time around the Clinton era when we started seeing reports of middle schoolers engaging in oral sex.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Sex Education, Dirty Words, and the Due Process Clause
“For the first ten years of my married life, my wife and I committed a felony whenever we engaged in oral sex.”
“I would love to see him defend the torture memos in oral argument ... sadist that I am.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Lawyers, Treason, and Deception: A Response to Andrew McCarthy
“She is not an impressive SCOTUS nominee based on her performance as solicitor general (brief and, at least in oral arguments, remarkably ineffectual).”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘oral’.
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Common English Words That Are Also First Names.
art, bob, bill, grace, hope, john, heather, pat, amber, jack, dale, glen and 170 more...
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Yazhinni Spelling bee
tongue, stallion, scruple, salinity, schedule, rouge, populist, Permian, perspire, pasteurize, multitude, mournful and 227 more...
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Talk Talk
Q: What are you talking about here?
A: All the words that refer to verbal communication.interlocution, verbose, pronunciation, mumble, gabber, whisper, wordy, oral, jibber-jabber, chat, speaking, chit chat and 2 more...
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