How to Use thorax in a Sentence

thorax

noun
  • Four springs ago, Naz grabbed it by the thorax.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Each have six legs, three body parts (head, thorax and abdomen) and four wings.
    — Paul A. Smith, Journal Sentinel, 2 Sep. 2022
  • Wheel bugs get their name from the shape of their thorax, the middle body segment where all legs and wings arise.
    — Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 6 Oct. 2022
  • Rawls suffered gunshot wounds to her head, upper arm and thorax area during the shooting.
    — Sarah Horner, Twin Cities, 14 Feb. 2017
  • Typically, the head, thorax and legs are dark brown and the abdomen is brownish black.
    — Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 14 June 2023
  • Key to the treehoppers’ unique style is their pronotum, the protective plate at the front of their thorax.
    — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Mar. 2020
  • Each time, the caterpillars tucked their head and thorax downward and froze in the sphinx position.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 24 Aug. 2025
  • At the end of that chain, Hox genes turn on to specify the insect’s head, thorax and abdomen.
    — Quanta Magazine, 9 Sep. 2020
  • The dorsal side of her thorax is covered in bugs, perhaps parasites.
    — oregonlive, 1 May 2022
  • Beetles have horns on their heads and the midregion of their body called the thorax, which is broken into three segments.
    — Erica Tennenhouse, Science | AAAS, 21 Nov. 2019
  • Then, once a bump begins to protrude from the thorax, the wing genes turn off and a new group of genes takes over to enlarge and sculpt the horn.
    — Erica Tennenhouse, Science | AAAS, 21 Nov. 2019
  • By distorting the shape of the thorax, the orientation of the beating wings is changed.
    — Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 26 Mar. 2014
  • In certain side-impact crashes, the head-thorax air bag may not deploy as intended.
    — USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2021
  • Americans gussied up Sawyer’s fly with a peacock herl thorax and various kinds of legs.
    — Morgan Lyle, Field & Stream, 31 Jan. 2020
  • In another, a patient’s chest drain, a tube used to remove air, fluid or pus from the thorax, was dislodged.
    — The Economist, 28 June 2018
  • These are a set of genes that help determine which segments of an embryo will become the head, thorax, abdomen, and so on.
    — Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 8 Dec. 2023
  • Her speech was interrupted when the other mayfly suddenly clasped her thorax tightly with his front legs.
    — Riane Konc, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2020
  • Imagine a spider, but with four powerful appendages sprouting from the thorax.
    — Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2017
  • The long bodies and stout thoraxes of dachshunds, for example, had to be taken into account.
    — Colleen Barry, USA TODAY, 16 Jan. 2018
  • To keep the ants from wandering (or simply falling) off the treadmill, the scientists glued the thorax to a small pin.
    — Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 22 Feb. 2017
  • On a recent Tuesday, his black-and-white leather jacket is designed to look like the skeletal structure of a thorax and arms.
    — Andrew Dansby, Houston Chronicle, 31 Jan. 2018
  • In insects, the thorax is made up of three segments, with wings reliably developing on the latter two.
    — Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian, 9 Dec. 2019
  • There is a larger thorax around the national security state that can protect changes within it.
    — Alison Medley, Chron, 13 Nov. 2020
  • The thorax is mostly solid brown or black, while the abdomen has alternating bands of dark brown/black and yellow-orange.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 12 Mar. 2026
  • The thorax is mostly solid brown or black, while the abdomen has alternating bands of dark brown/black and yellow-orange.
    — Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 27 Aug. 2025
  • The crowning touch is a giant mosquito with a lava lamp on its thorax; the whole thing is made of a bunch of dumb American junk.
    — Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 10 Sep. 2024
  • Trubridge arrives, wearing sunglasses and headphones, his lean spider limbs dangling from the oversize thorax that is his chest.
    — James Nestor, Outside Online, 25 Jan. 2012
  • On Apatzingán Street, officers were summoned to open a sack that contained two legs, one thigh, and part of a thorax.
    — Seth Harp, Harper's Magazine, 27 Apr. 2020
  • Bacteria and viruses settle into the crevices and cracks between thorax and head, and begin to multiply.
    — Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 9 May 2012
  • It is attached to the monarch’s thorax using eyelash glue, a gentler alternative to toxic super glues.
    — Olivia Maule, Mercury News, 6 Dec. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thorax.' 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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