digestive tract

noun

: the tubular passage typically extending from the mouth to the anus or cloaca that functions in digestion and absorption of food and elimination of residual waste and that in most mammals includes the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, intestine, and anus

called also alimentary canal, alimentary tract

Examples of digestive tract in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Fiber, protein, and vitamin supplements can support the digestive tract and improve health from the inside out. —Chelsea Rae Bourgeois, Rdn, Health, 10 Feb. 2025

Walking and other physical activity can aid digestion, and producing farts is a normal function of an active digestive tract. —Nancy Lebrun, Verywell Health, 7 Feb. 2025

With oral supplements, the body's digestive tract breaks it down so much that there's nothing left to benefit the body. —Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY, 6 Feb. 2025

Researchers examining the turtles’ digestive tracts would be wise to take care not to slice their hands on shards of the mineral silica that form the skeletons of sea sponges, a mainstay of the hawksbills’ diet. —Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1842, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

digestive tract

noun

: the tubular passage typically extending from mouth to anus or cloaca that functions in digestion and absorption of food and elimination of residual waste and that in most mammals includes the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, intestine, and anus

called also alimentary canal, alimentary tract