What does resorption mean?
Resorption is the return of material to the body after that material has been secreted, filtered, or otherwise deposited elsewhere. It is particularly important in physiology: kidneys, for example, reabsorb useful water and dissolved substances from filtered blood, while specialized cells resorb old bone during skeletal maintenance. In dentistry, resorption can describe the breakdown of a tooth’s root, and in orthopaedics it may refer to the loss of bone around an implant or damaged joint. The word is more specialized than the broader term reabsorption and is frequently encountered in medical literature. Although it can describe a beneficial recovery process, it often appears in clinical contexts involving abnormal tissue breakdown, such as osteoporosis or root resorption. Its etymology reflects the idea of “sucking back in,” a metaphor still visible in words such as absorb and sorption.
nounThe process of taking material back into the body or bloodstream, especially after it has been secreted, filtered, or deposited. In medicine and dentistry, the term is also used for the breakdown and removal of bone or tooth-root tissue.
- The reabsorption of a substance into the body or bloodstream, especially following secretion or filtration.
- The breakdown, removal, and uptake into the bloodstream of bone tissue.
- The progressive loss or dissolution of the root of a tooth.
"The scan showed increased resorption of bone around the implant."
"Renal resorption returned more water and sodium to the bloodstream."
"External root resorption can weaken a tooth without causing obvious pain."
The plural is grammatically standard but rarely needed because the word is normally used in the singular or as an uncountable process noun.
"The radiographs revealed multiple resorptions along the affected tooth roots."
Your bones are not permanent: specialized cells continually demolish old bone, a process called bone resorption, while others build replacement tissue.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does resorption come from?
The word derives from Latin resorbere, literally “to suck back again,” formed from re-, meaning “again,” and sorbere, “to suck in or absorb.” English borrowed the related verb resorb in the 17th century, and resorption developed as a noun for the corresponding process. The same Latin root also lies behind absorb, adsorption, and desorption, all of which involve the uptake or release of material.
Related word forms
How resorption is actually used
This is chiefly a technical term in medicine, physiology, and dentistry. In general biological usage, “reabsorption” is often more familiar, while “resorption” is especially common in descriptions of bone and tooth-root loss.