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trigeminal

American  
[trahy-jem-uh-nl] / traɪˈdʒɛm ə nl /

adjective

  1. of or relating to the trigeminal nerve.


noun

  1. Also called trigeminal nerve.  either one of the fifth pair of cranial nerves, consisting of motor fibers that innervate the muscles of mastication, and of sensory fibers that conduct impulses from the head and face to the brain.

trigeminal British  
/ traɪˈdʒɛmɪnəl /

adjective

  1. anatomy of or relating to the trigeminal nerve

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of trigeminal

1820–30; < New Latin trigemin ( us ) ( Latin: triple, equivalent to tri- tri- + geminus twin, double) + -al 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The researchers then focused on the trigeminal ganglion, which contains the cell bodies of facial sensory neurons.

From Science Daily May 23, 2026

She said that she was also diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia earlier in the year.

From BBC Jul. 15, 2025

She was battling the chronic pain disorder trigeminal neuralgia.

From New York Times Mar. 19, 2024

After performing at a 2021 trigeminal neuralgia awareness fundraiser in Chicago, he met people who had been living with TN for 10 or 15 years.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 21, 2023

With all this, however, we see a sufficiently large number of incurable sciaticas, on the one hand, and of severe trigeminal neuralgia cured on the other.

From Neuralgia and the Diseases that Resemble it by Anstie, Francis E.

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