sphincter

Other forms of sphincter

plural

sphincters·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about sphincter

What does sphincter mean?

sphincter means "a ring of muscle that contracts to close an opening".

How many syllables are in sphincter?

sphincter has 2 syllables: sphinc-ter. The stress falls on "sphinc". In IPA it is /ˈsfɪŋktɚ/.

What is another word for sphincter?

Close synonyms include anatomical sphincter, sphincter muscle. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is sphincter a common word?

sphincter is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.