Occlusion is either the act of blocking something or a specific blockage. There can be occlusions blocking the street or your arteries. When dentists say occlusion, they’re talking about what your teeth look like when your mouth is closed.

An occlusion blocks anything that flows, like cars, people, water, or blood. You can say there's occlusion if a pipe is clogged. If you find out a golf ball was in the pipe, the ball was an occlusion. This word applies to things that block and the act of blocking. People have heart attacks when there's occlusion in their arteries. An overturned truck would be an occlusion on the highway. Occlusions are in the way.

Primary Meanings of occlusion

the act of blocking
Full Definitions of occlusion

n the act of blocking

blockage, closure
the initial occluded phase of a stop consonant
Type of:
the act of obstructing

n closure or blockage (as of a blood vessel)

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a closure of the larynx that blocks the passage of air to the lungs
coronary occlusion
aeroembolism, air embolism, gas embolism
fat embolism
serious condition in which fat blocks an artery; fat can enter the blood stream after a long bone is fractured or if adipose tissue is injured or as a result of a fatty liver
pulmonary embolism
cerebral thrombosis
a blood clot in a cerebral artery or vein
coronary, coronary thrombosis
milk leg, phlegmasia alba dolens, white leg
painful thrombosis of the femoral vein in the leg following childbirth
phlebothrombosis, venous thrombosis
Type of:
a sudden occurrence of an uncontrollable condition

n an obstruction in a pipe or tube

block, blockage, closure, stop, stoppage
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breech closer, breechblock
plug, stopper, stopple
blockage consisting of an object designed to fill a hole tightly
vapor lock, vapour lock
bung, spile
a plug used to close a hole in a barrel or flask
bottle cork, cork
a removable plug for holding water in a tub or basin
a wooden plug forming a flue pipe (as the mouthpiece of a recorder)
tampion, tompion
plug of cotton or other absorbent material; inserted into wound or body cavity to absorb exuded fluids (especially blood)
spigot, tap
a plug for a bunghole in a cask
Type of:
impediment, impedimenta, obstructer, obstruction, obstructor
any structure that makes progress difficult

n (dentistry) the normal spatial relation of the teeth when the jaws are closed

Type of:
position, spatial relation


occluded front
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