How to Use distal in a Sentence

distal

adjective
  • The way the bone splintered is known as a distal humerus fracture.
    — Katheryn Houghton, Miami Herald, 25 Sep. 2025
  • At this distal end, which forms your elbow joint with your radius and ulna, are two bony bumps, called epicondyles.
    — Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026
  • The most likely type of fracture Betts has is a distal radius fracture.
    — Greg Scholz, The Athletic, 4 July 2024
  • 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
  • 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
  • Nails may have evolved, in part, as an aspect of this distal sensory system, says Maiolino.
    — Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 21 Nov. 2024
  • There are, however, webs at the distal end of the graft between all fingers and thumb which should be dealt with as soon as possible.
    — Geoff Dyer, Harpers Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025
  • 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
  • In what's sometimes termed diffuse or distal esophageal spasm, there may also be a backflow of stomach acids or undigested foods.
    — Mark Gurarie, Health, 20 Dec. 2024
  • 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
  • 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
  • That drop in core temperature is one of the body’s key signals for sleep onset — a process called distal vasodilation.
    — Allison Palmer, Kansas City Star, 13 May 2026
  • That drop in core temperature is one of the body’s key signals for sleep onset — a process called distal vasodilation.
    — Allison Palmer, Kansas City Star, 12 May 2026
  • Healed amputation of middle right finger, the distal end, noted.
    — Erik Hedegaard, Rolling Stone, 1 Sep. 2024
  • 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
  • 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
  • Our results suggested that both local and distal acupuncture improved median nerve function at the wrist.
    — Vitaly Napadow, Discover Magazine, 6 Oct. 2017
  • These were found on distal forelimbs of certain species like Caudipteryx, serving as proto-wings that were too small to use for flight, as well as around the tip of the tail as plumage.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 6 Feb. 2024
  • 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
  • This is further improved due to the compliant material used in the distal phalanxes of each finger.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 18 July 2013
  • Those who scored high on creativity were rated as better at using distal imagination.
    — Knvul Sheikh, Scientific American, 22 May 2019
  • To put it in perspective, the most severe type of injury in this area would be a distal tendon avulsion (the hamstring coming unattached by the knee area).
    — Sarah Bence, Verywell Health, 26 July 2024
  • There are ways to put distal parts of the chromosome in proximity — if the enhancer can be pulled out of the mass of chromatin and brought close to the promoter and gene on a loop.
    — Quanta Magazine, 8 Oct. 2025
  • 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 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
  • Proximal colon cancer is a type of colon cancer that occurs on the right side of the colon and can have worse survival outcomes than cancers that occur in the distal colon, which is on the left side.
    — Maria Godoy, NPR, 14 Feb. 2025
  • 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
  • Due to their tiny size, they can be easily inhaled into the distal branches of the lungs, quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, and even pass through organ barriers.
    — Discover Magazine, 1 Nov. 2024
  • It had been severed at the distal interphalangeal joint, which is right above the knuckle near the tip of the finger, just before the nail begins, per Law & Crime.
    — Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News, 9 Aug. 2024
  • 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

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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