: the part of the vertebrate body between the neck and the abdomen
If you count the vertebrae in the necks and thoraxes of mice and chickens, you will find that a mouse has seven neck and 13 thoracic vertebrae, a chicken 14 and seven, respectively. Matt Ridley
The thorax is evaluated for fluid at the flanks and for pneumothorax anteriorly. Christoper L. Moore
2
: the middle of the three chief divisions of the body of an insect
Of nearly a million described species of insects, none has a biramous appendage, and nearly all have exactly three pairs of limbs on the thorax. Stephen Jay Gould
This haunting pitch issues from drum tissue stretched over the thorax of the male annual cicada … Ted Williams
also: the corresponding part of a crustacean or an arachnid
The brown recluse spider … is brown and has fuzzy body hair and a dark violin- or pear-shaped band on the dorsum of its thorax. Peter F. Weller
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebEach have six legs, three body parts (head, thorax and abdomen) and four wings. Paul A. Smith, Journal Sentinel, 2 Sep. 2022 Crystals had started to progress over its head and thorax. Henry Wismayer, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Aug. 2022 Crystals had started to progress over its head and thorax. Henry Wismayer, Washington Post, 29 Aug. 2022 Trubridge arrives, wearing sunglasses and headphones, his lean spider limbs dangling from the oversize thorax that is his chest. James Nestor, Outside Online, 25 Jan. 2012 The dorsal side of her thorax is covered in bugs, perhaps parasites.oregonlive, 1 May 2022 Soft airs possess the potency to mitigate the barbaric thorax. Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Oct. 2021 Sánchez said the girl had been stabbed approximately 12 times in the area around her thorax, and the boy had 17 stab wounds in a similar area. Doris Bittar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Aug. 2021 This action also decreases the pressure in your thorax (space inside your rib cage), which creates the force that pulls air into your lungs — without requiring extra upper-body effort and upward movement. Dana Santas, CNN, 23 June 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Latin thorac-, thorax breastplate, thorax, from Greek thōrak-, thōrax