capillary
capillary Lexical Profile
capillary Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Any of the fine, branching blood vessels that form a microscopic network between the arterioles and venules, enabling the exchange of oxygen, nutrients, and waste with surrounding tissues.
"Oxygen diffuses across the thin walls of the capillaries directly into the muscle cells."
A tube with an extremely narrow, hairlike internal diameter, used in laboratory science and instrumentation.
"The chemist drew a tiny droplet of the sample into a glass capillary for melting-point analysis."
• adjective
Relating to or involving the smallest blood vessels in the body.
"The clinician checked the patient's fingernail beds to measure her capillary refill time."
Having a very slender, hairlike internal diameter, or relating to the surface tension phenomenon by which liquid rises or falls in such narrow spaces.
"Groundwater moves upward through the soil toward plant roots largely by capillary action."
• Rhymes for capillary
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-17th century from Latin capillaris ('of or relating to hair'), derived from capillus ('hair of the head'). The anatomical sense arose because these microscopic blood vessels are as fine and slender as human hairs.