impaction

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

impaction

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Latin impingere (“to dash against, impinge”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpækʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækʃən

Noun

impaction (countable and uncountable, plural impactions)

1. Compression; the packing together of loose matter.
2. something packed together tightly; a mass of densely-packed matter
3. (medicine) A solid, immobile bulk of stool.
   • 2021, Alice A. Horton, Isobelle Blissett, Impacts of Plastic Pollution on Freshwater Aquatic, Terrestrial and Avian Migratory Species in the Asia and Pacific Region, Convention on Migratory Species, page 22:

     As plastics cannot be easily egested, these can accumulate within the stomach, causing impaction and leading ultimately to death.

4. (dentistry) Failure of a tooth to erupt into the dental arch, because of adjacent teeth, dense overlying bone, excessive soft tissue, or other factor.
5. (education) The situation where an educational institute, usually a college or university, receives more applications from qualified applicants than the number of spaces available, meaning that meeting the minimum admission requirements does not guarantee acceptance.

Derived terms

• disimpaction
• earwax impaction
• fecal impaction
• reimpaction

Translations

failure of a tooth to erupt

French: enclavement (fr) m, inclusion (fr) f Portuguese: impactação (pt) f, retenção (pt) f