Library / English Dictionary

MENSTRUAL CYCLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A recurring cycle (beginning at menarche and ending at menopause) in which the endometrial lining of the uterus prepares for pregnancy; if pregnancy does not occur the lining is shed at menstruation

Example:

the average menstrual cycle is 28 days

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("menstrual cycle" is a kind of...):

cycle; oscillation (a single complete execution of a periodically repeated phenomenon)

Meronyms (parts of "menstrual cycle"):

fertile period; fertile phase (the time in the menstrual cycle when fertilization is most likely to be possible (7 days before to 7 days after ovulation))

menstrual phase (the phase of the menstrual cycle during which the lining of the uterus is shed (the first day of menstrual flow is considered day 1 of the menstrual cycle))

luteal phase; secretory phase (the second half of the menstrual cycle after ovulation; the corpus luteum secretes progesterone which prepares the endometrium for the implantation of an embryo; if fertilization does not occur then menstrual flow begins)

safe period (that time during a woman's menstrual cycle during which conception is least likely to occur (usually immediately before of after menstruation))

Credits

 Context examples: 

Serum concentrations transit during the menstrual cycle.

(Inhibin A, NCI Thesaurus)