Definition of "nasal" []

• Of, in, or relating to the nose. (adjective)
• Linguistics Articulated by lowering the soft palate so that air resonates in the nasal cavities and passes out the nose, as in the pronunciation of the consonants (m), (n), and (ng) or the nasalized vowel of French bon. (adjective)
• Characterized by or resembling a resonant sound produced through the nose: a nasal whine. (adjective)
• Linguistics A nasal consonant. (noun)
• A nasal part or bone, forming part of the bridge of the nose. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I won't even think of the implication of the word nasal…."
• "You have the beginning of what we call a nasal-labial crease."
• "The following passage from Kipling’s American Notes, ch. i, will be recalled: “Oliver Wendell Holmes says that the Yankee schoolmarm, the cider and the salt codfish of the Eastern states are responsible for what he calls a nasal accent."