How do you use the word "cataract" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "cataract" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "cataract": Six months ago I had an operation for the cataract in my right eye. The WHO says cataract surgery could prevent 65 million people from becoming blind.

Cataract Meaning

/ˈkætəɹækt/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA (large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff.

nounA flood of water; specifically, steep rapids in a river.

Sentence Examples

Six months ago I had an operation for the cataract in my right eye.

The WHO says cataract surgery could prevent 65 million people from becoming blind.

Almost all patients require corrective eyewear after cataract surgery.

CEFR Practice Quiz

The elderly patient needed surgery to remove a cloudy ____ from his left eye.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

He had a successful operation to remove a ____ from his right eye city.

Word Origin & History

PIE word *ḱóm The noun is derived from cataracts (noun (plural only)), from Late Middle English cataract, cataracta, cateract, cateracte (“floodgate of heaven”), from Old French cataracte (modern French cataracte), and from its etymon Latin cataracta (“floodgate; waterfall”), from Ancient Greek καταρ(ρ)άκτης (katar(rh)áktēs, “(noun) waterfall; (adjective) rushing downwards”), from καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (katar(rh)ā́ssō, “to pour down; to rush downwards”) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming nouns denoting a state of being). Καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (Katar(rh)ā́ssō) is derived either: * from κᾰτᾰ- (kătă-, prefix meaning ‘downwards’) + ἀρᾰ́σσω (arắssō, “to dash to pieces; to strike”) (further etymology unknown, possibly onomatopoeic) or ῥᾱ́σσω (rhā́ssō, “to dash; to strike”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wreh₂ǵʰ- (“to pound, strike”)); or * from καταρρηγνύναι (katarrhēgnúnai, “to break down”). The verb is derived from the noun.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"This Elephantis being an Iſland, is inhabited beneath the lovveſt cataract or fall of vvater three miles, and aboue Syene 16: […]" — 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book V.] Of Asia.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 98:

"[T]he Salmon ſeekes a freſher ſtreame to find / […] and ſtems the vvatry tract / VVhere Tivy falling dovvne, doth make a Cataract, / Forc't by the riſing Rocks that there her courſe oppoſe, […]" — 1612, Michael Drayton, “The Sixt Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 88:

"[C]oming dovvn farther the ſame River, they heard a terrible Noiſe in the River, as of a mighty Cataract, or VVater-fall, vvhich increaſed as they came forvvard, till it grevv ſo loud, that they could not hear themſelves ſpeak, much leſs hear one another." — 1725, [Daniel Defoe], “Part II”, in A New Voyage Round the World, by a Course Never Sailed before. […], London: […] A[rthur] Bettesworth, […]; and W. Mears, […], →OCLC, page 190:

"The sounding cataract / Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock, / The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, / Their colours and their forms, were then to me / An appetite: […]" — 1798 July 13 (date written), William Wordsworth, “[Poems of the Imagination.] Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, […].”, in Poems […], volume II, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], published 1815, →OCLC, page 76:

"[S]uch a violent ſtorme of raine vnburthened it ſelfe neere this place, and cauſed ſuch a ſudden Deluge and Cattaract, that a Carrauan of tvvo thouſand Camels periſht, and vvere caſt avvay by it." — 1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “A Description of Larr”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 54:

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