Meaning & use
sweat gland
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablebiologymedical
A tiny organ in the skin that releases sweat, helping the body cool down.
Grammar: Countable: the skin has millions of sweat glands.
Patterns
- sweat glands in something
Tiny sweat glands in the skin release moisture that cools the body when we overheat.
Some people are born with fewer sweat glands and overheat easily.
A blocked sweat gland under the arm can form a small, painful lump.
Word forms
| plural | sweat glands |
|---|
Common combinations
- eccrine sweat glands
- Eccrine sweat glands cover most of the body.
- apocrine sweat glands
- Apocrine sweat glands are found mainly in the armpits.
- overactive sweat glands
- Overactive sweat glands can cause excessive sweating.
- blocked sweat gland
- A blocked sweat gland can become infected.
- sweat gland duct
- Sweat travels up the sweat gland duct to the surface.
- stimulate the sweat glands
- Heat and stress stimulate the sweat glands.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sudoriferous gland
- Sudoriferous gland is the formal anatomical name and appears in textbooks, whereas sweat gland is the normal everyday term.
- perspiratory gland
- Perspiratory gland is a rarer, more formal alternative that uses the polite word perspiration.
- pore
- A pore is the tiny opening on the skin surface, not the gland beneath that produces the sweat.
Word family
Commonly confused: sweat gland or sebaceous gland?
sweat gland vs sebaceous gland
A sebaceous gland produces oily sebum that keeps skin and hair soft, while a sweat gland produces watery sweat to cool the body.
Practice
Tiny ___ in the skin release moisture that cools the body when we overheat.
Choose one answer.
Sweat glands release sweat to cool the body. Hair follicles grow hair, tear ducts drain tears and the thyroid controls hormones.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sweat gland”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.