noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   One that depresses:; Any of several muscles whose contraction pulls down a part of the body.
2. 2
   a device used by physician to press a part down or aside wordnet
3. 3
   One that depresses:; A nerve or nerve fiber that decreases the activity or the tone of the organ or the part it innervates, such as lowering the blood pressure.
4. 4
   any nerve whose activity tends to reduce the activity or tone of the body part it serves wordnet
5. 5
   One that depresses:; An instrument used to push something out of the way during an examination.

   "tongue depressor"

Show 1 more definition

6. 6
   any skeletal muscle that draws a body part down wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

alcoholanalgesicanodynebarbbarbiturateblue

Antonyms

All antonyms

levator

Example

More examples

"The doctor used a tongue depressor to examine the patient's throat."

Etymology

From depress + -or.

Related phrases

tongue depressorblood pressure

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