Word
occlusion
Phoneticsoc·clu·sion
US/əˈkɫuʒən/
UK/əklˈuːʒən/
Definitions
01a blockage
n. the act of blocking or closing something, like a tube or a blood vessel.
n. the complete or partial obstruction of a hollow organ, vessel, or passage.
“The doctor explained that the patient had a small occlusion in a heart artery.”
“The surgeon identified a significant arterial occlusion that was restricting blood flow to the lower extremities, necessitating immediate intervention.”
Technical
Usage
Often used with the preposition 'of'.
Synonyms
Antonyms
02teeth alignment
n. the way your top and bottom teeth meet when you close your mouth.
n. the relationship between the maxillary and mandibular teeth when they are in functional contact.
“The dentist checked her occlusion to see if her teeth were straight.”
“Correcting the patient's dental occlusion required several months of orthodontic treatment to ensure the jaws aligned properly during mastication.”
Technical
Antonyms
03hidden from view
n. when one object in a picture or 3D space blocks your view of another object.
n. the effect of one object in a three-dimensional space blocking another from the observer's line of sight.
“The software calculates occlusion so that the character doesn't show through the wall.”
“Ambient occlusion is a rendering technique used to calculate how exposed each point in a scene is to ambient lighting based on nearby geometry.”
Technical
Synonyms
Antonyms
04weather front
n. a weather event where a cold front catches up to a warm front.
n. the formation of an occluded front, occurring when a cold front overtakes a warm front and lifts it off the ground.
“The weather map showed an occlusion moving across the coast, bringing heavy rain.”
“The meteorologist noted that the occlusion was deepening, suggesting that the storm system would remain stationary for several hours.”
Technical
Synonyms
05speech sound
n. the closing of the mouth or throat to stop air when making certain speech sounds.
n. the complete closure of the breath stream at some point in the vocal tract to produce a stop consonant.
“To make the 'p' sound, you need a brief occlusion of the lips.”
“The phonetician analyzed the duration of the occlusion before the release of the plosive consonant in various dialects.”
Technical
Real-World Examples
“The precise occlusion of the upper and lower teeth allows mammals to cut, crush and grind food very efficiently.” “Researchers assessed oral health using two main measures: the number of natural teeth remaining and the status of occlusion (contact between upper and lower teeth) of the premolars and molars.” Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin occlūsiō, occlūsiōnis (“occluding, obstruction”), from the Classical Latin occlūdō (“I shut up or close up; I restrain”), from ob + claudō (“I shut or close”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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englishreference.com/q/occlusion