Lumbar vs. Lumber: What's the Difference?
Lumbar refers to the lower section of the spine, particularly the five vertebrae between the rib cage and pelvis. It's also used to describe things related to the lower back, such as lumbar support in furniture. Contrarily, lumber is processed wood used in building and construction or the act of moving clumsily or heavily.
How do you use the word lumbar in a sentence?
The term lumbar is typically used in medical, anatomical, or ergonomic contexts to describe anything pertaining to the lower back region. It is often associated with back health, such as when referring to lumbar support in chairs or lumbar pain experienced in that specific area of the back.
Examples of lumbar in a sentence
- After the car accident, he suffered from persistent lumbar pain that affected his mobility.
- The chiropractor focused on realigning his lumbar vertebrae to alleviate backache.
- She invested in a high-quality office chair with excellent lumbar support to improve her posture while working.
How do you use the word lumber in a sentence?
Lumber is primarily used to denote timber that's been prepared for construction. It can also describe a slow, heavy movement, almost as if encumbered by weight. Hence, the word lumber is often found in discussions about carpentry, construction, or to describe someone's ungainly gait.
Examples of lumber in a sentence
- The old shed was built with an assortment of recycled lumber from the demolished barn.
- At dawn, the sawmill workers began cutting the logs into usable lumber.
- The bear lumbered through the forest, clearly in search of food.
Lumbar and lumber definition, parts of speech, and pronunciation
Lumbar definition:
Lumbar is an adjective related to the lower part of the back or the vertebrae in between the rib cage and pelvis.
Lumbar parts of speech:
Lumbar pronunciation:
Lumbar is pronounced /ˈlʌm.bər/.
Lumber definition:
Lumber can act as both a noun, referring to wood that has been sawn into boards for construction, and as a verb, meaning to move heavily and clumsily.
Lumber parts of speech:
Lumber pronunciation:
Lumber is pronounced /ˈlʌm.bər/, which is phonetically identical to lumbar.
Lumbar is an adjective related to the lower part of the back or the vertebrae in between the rib cage and pelvis.
Lumbar parts of speech:
- As an adjective: The lumbar region is often susceptible to injury during heavy lifting.
Lumbar pronunciation:
Lumbar is pronounced /ˈlʌm.bər/.
Lumber definition:
Lumber can act as both a noun, referring to wood that has been sawn into boards for construction, and as a verb, meaning to move heavily and clumsily.
Lumber parts of speech:
- As a noun: They stored the lumber in a dry place to prevent it from warping.
- As a verb: The tired hiker lumbered up the last stretch of the mountain trail.
Lumber pronunciation:
Lumber is pronounced /ˈlʌm.bər/, which is phonetically identical to lumbar.
Lumbar vs. Lumber in a nutshell
While lumbar and lumber may be phonetically similar, their meanings are distinct. Lumbar pertains to the lower back region and is used medically or ergonomically, whereas lumber is processed wood for construction or the action of moving in a slow, heavy way. Understanding the context in which each word is used is crucial for accurate communication, as one relates to health and human anatomy, and the other to materials or movement.
Get AI Writing Assistance Wherever You Type
Make sure your vocabulary is on point and every punctuation mark is in the right place, no matter where you’re working. Grammarly works across more than 500,000 websites and apps so you can improve your writing without copying, pasting, or breaking focused.
More Commonly Confused Words
Interest piqued? Pore (not pour) over other commonly confused words to help your writing reach peak (not peek) performance.