Aorta

//eɪˈɔːtə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The great artery which carries the blood from the heart to all parts of the body except the lungs; the main trunk of the arterial system.
  2. 2
    the large trunk artery that carries blood from the left ventricle of the heart to branch arteries wordnet
  3. 3
    The liveliest part of something. figuratively

    "Tracing their battles, I had many occasions to walk along Second Avenue, the aorta of the Lower East Side, exploring places that were once as vibrant and tumultuous as Midtown Manhattan."

Synonyms

All synonyms
arterycapillarygreat arteryvein

Example

More examples

"The aorta is a critical part of the circulatory system."

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀορτή (aortḗ, “the arteries springing from the heart”), from ἀορτέω (aortéō), lengthened form of ἀείρω (aeírō, “I lift, raise”).

Related phrases

abdominal aortaarch of the aortaporcelain aortacirculatory system

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.