Meaning & use

capillary

noun·Advanced

One of the tiny blood vessels connecting arteries and veins throughout body tissue.

See it in a sentence

Oxygen passes from the lungs into the blood through thin capillaries.

A bruise forms when small capillaries under the skin are damaged.

A note on using this word

As an adjective, capillary also describes narrow tube-like structures, as in capillary action in plants.

Words with a similar meaning

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