How to Use distal in a Sentence

distal

adjective
  • Multiple healed scars of the face, chin and volar surface distal phalanges of the fingers of both hands.
    Dawn Mitchell, Indianapolis Star, 2 Aug. 2019
  • In this disease, the muscles closest to the trunk — the thigh and shoulder muscles — will be weaker than the distal muscles of the feet and hands.
    New York Times, 26 May 2022
  • By video, the hope for good news is that there is nothing to suggest a distal biceps tendon tear, which would require surgery.
    Profootballdoc, sandiegouniontribune.com, 11 Sep. 2017
  • Both the distal tips and the quills at the base are typically overwrapped during the weaving process, with the downy portions exposed.
    Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 28 Nov. 2020
  • Symptoms include tenderness over the middle or most distal portion of the metatarsal (long foot bone) with moderate swelling on the top of the foot.
    Julie Isphording, Cincinnati.com, 10 July 2017
  • However, his season will be over after a distal femoral osteotomy is performed at the end of the month.
    Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 24 June 2023
  • The sense of eeriness is probably a form of instinct that protects us from proximal, rather than distal, sources of danger.
    IEEE Spectrum, 12 June 2012
  • Both were carted off the field and undoubtedly will undergo X-rays to rule out a distal fibula fracture.
    Profootballdoc, sandiegouniontribune.com, 15 Oct. 2017
  • Studies, however, show that the increase in diagnoses is mainly driven by a rise in rectal cancers and cancers found in the left, or distal, side of the colon, near the rectum.
    Knvul Sheikh, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024
  • Instead only the most distal ones are homologous to digit bones; the proximal radials are homologous to the wrist bones and the long bones of the palm.
    John A. Long, Scientific American, 20 May 2020
  • The part at the distal end, namely getting into people's arms, is going to be more challenging than just a regular flu season.
    NBC News, 29 Nov. 2020
  • The inflation is usually from distal (farthest from the body) to proximal (closest to the body), creating a wave-like motion.
    Good Housekeeping, 23 Aug. 2023
  • Surgeons can close the hole and create a valve, but long-term outcomes vary, in large part because some patients also have undersized distal pulmonary arteries.
    Nara Schoenberg, chicagotribune.com, 2 May 2017
  • The location of the fracture determines what that involves—the femoral shaft is divided into thirds: distal, middle, and proximal.
    Claire Gillespie, Health.com, 22 Feb. 2021
  • Our results suggested that both local and distal acupuncture improved median nerve function at the wrist.
    Vitaly Napadow, Discover Magazine, 6 Oct. 2017
  • Mare Kimberly Dream sustained a distal sesamodean ligament rupture to her front leg while running in Saturday's first race.
    Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 28 May 2023
  • Those who scored high on creativity were rated as better at using distal imagination.
    Knvul Sheikh, Scientific American, 22 May 2019
  • The town was inundated with ash, lahars and the distal end of pyroclastic flows (see top left and below), making the town all but uninhabitable, especially when considering the potential future hazards for a town so close to Chaiten.
    Erik Klemetti, Discover Magazine, 6 May 2011
  • This medical occurrence is specifically called a distal biceps femoris avulsion.
    Dallas News, 26 Aug. 2022
  • This unusual hairiness was symmetrically distributed on the extensor surfaces of both proximal forearms and distal arms.
    Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 8 Jan. 2014
  • The scientists extracted a piece of distal articular cartilage from the right femur of this specimen, decalcified it, and used different microscopy and chemical methods to analyze it.
    David Bressan, Forbes, 24 Sep. 2021
  • Possibilities include Lyme Disease, tuberculosis, syphilis, and blistering distal dactylitis.
    Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, 6 May 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'distal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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