1. threads or wires used in surgery to tie off blood vessels or bind body parts
Usage: medical
2. characters in typography where two or more letters are joined together as a single unit
Usage: typography; printing
3. something that binds or connects things together
Usage: formal

Examples

• The surgeon carefully placed ligatures around the damaged blood vessels.
• Medical students practice tying ligatures during their surgical training.
• The old manuscript contained beautiful ligatures connecting certain letter pairs.
• Modern fonts often include ligatures for letter combinations like ‘fi’ and ‘fl’.
• The typographer chose a font with elegant ligatures for the wedding invitations.
• Strong ligatures bound the ancient scrolls together for centuries.
• The printer explained how ligatures improve the appearance of text.