bucktooth

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableinformal

   A front tooth that sticks out noticeably past the others.

   Grammar: Countable, and the plural is buckteeth: one bucktooth, two buckteeth.

   Patterns

   • a bucktooth in the front
   • have buckteeth

   The cartoon rabbit's one huge bucktooth made children laugh.

   As a boy he had a bucktooth that the dentist fixed with braces.

   The beaver's long bucktooth can gnaw through a small tree.

2. 2nounusually pluralinformaloffensive

   A mocking name for a person whose upper front teeth stick out.

   Grammar: Usually plural, buckteeth, and it is better to avoid it when speaking about real people.

   Patterns

   • called someone buckteeth

   Cruel children once called him buckteeth, and he still remembers it.

   Calling someone buckteeth is a form of teasing that can hurt.

Word forms

Common combinations

a prominent bucktooth

The drawing showed a hare with a prominent bucktooth.

fix a bucktooth

Braces helped fix her bucktooth.

cartoon bucktooth

The cartoon bucktooth is part of the rabbit's charm.

set of buckteeth

The old film star had a set of buckteeth that became his trademark.

buck-toothed grin

He gave a shy, buck-toothed grin.

Synonyms and how they differ

overbite

An overbite is the dental term for upper teeth sticking out over the lower ones and is neutral and clinical, unlike bucktooth.

protruding tooth

Protruding tooth describes the same thing in a neutral, descriptive way and is safer in polite company.

incisor

An incisor is any front cutting tooth, so it need not stick out like a bucktooth.

Word family

buck-toothed adjective

having teeth that stick out

buckteeth noun

plural form

tooth noun

the hard white part in the mouth used to bite

Commonly confused: bucktooth or buck?

Practice

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