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# capillary

«capillary» in Mova's school dictionary: **the thinnest kind of blood vessel in the body, finer than…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a capillary, capillaries); adjective (capillary action)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A capillary is the thinnest kind of blood vessel in the body, finer than a hair, that connects arteries and veins. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/capillary/#m1)

2) A capillary is any very thin tube. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/capillary/#m2)

3) Capillary action is the way water moves up through thin tubes or tiny gaps, like in paper or plants. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/capillary/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons about the body blood flows from the heart in arteries, through capillaries where oxygen and food pass into the body's cells, and back in veins. In experiments with paper towels, celery and food colouring, pupils see water climb by capillary action, which helps water rise in plants.

### examples

- Oxygen passes from the capillaries into your cells. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/capillary/#x1)
- Capillaries are thinner than a hair. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/capillary/#x2)
- Water climbed up the paper towel by capillary action. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/capillary/#x3)
- The celery turned blue because coloured water rose up its tubes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/capillary/#x4)
- A bruise forms when tiny capillaries break under the skin. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/capillary/#x5)
- Blood goes: arteries, capillaries, veins. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/capillary/#x6)

### note

Countable: capillaries (y → ies). Pronounced «ka-PIL-a-ree» in the UK, «KAP-i-lair-ee» in the US. Three kinds of blood vessel: arteries (away from heart), veins (back to heart), capillaries (tiny links).

### In the corpora

- [Arteries carry blood away from the heart, veins bring it back, and tiny capillaries join them inside every part of the body.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/32-heart-blood-breathing/4/)
- [Capillaries are the tiniest blood vessels; they reach almost every cell.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/32-heart-blood-breathing/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «capillary» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/capillary/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.