molar
part of speech
noun (a molar, molars); adjective (molar — of the back teeth)
meaning for a pupil
A molar is one of the large, flat-topped teeth at the back of your mouth, used for grinding and chewing food. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons about teeth: incisors cut, canines tear, premolars and molars grind. Children get their first adult molars at about age six («six-year molars»), behind their baby teeth. At the dentist, molars often get cavities because food gets stuck in their grooves, so dentists may put sealants on them. Phrases: «back molars», «wisdom teeth» (third molars), «baby molars».
examples
- Molars are the big teeth at the back of your mouth. tree →
- We chew and grind food with our molars. tree →
- My new adult molar is coming through. tree →
- The dentist sealed my molars to stop cavities. tree →
- Cows have big flat molars for grinding grass. tree →
- Wisdom teeth are the last molars to grow. tree →
- Brush your back molars carefully. tree →
- Lions have sharp teeth, but few grinding molars. tree →
note
Countable: molars. Pronounced MOH-lar. Adults usually have 12 molars (including 4 wisdom teeth); children have 8 baby molars. Herbivores have big molars; carnivores have sharp teeth for tearing.
In the corpora
- A grown-up set has 8 incisors for cutting, 4 canines for gripping, 8 premolars and 12 molars for grinding.
- Molars at the back grind and crush food.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «molar» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.