acetabulum
Americannoun
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acetabula
plural
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Anatomy. the socket in the hipbone that receives the head of the thighbone.
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Zoology. any of the suction appendages of a leech, octopus, etc.
noun
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the deep cuplike cavity on the side of the hipbone that receives the head of the thighbone
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a round muscular sucker in flatworms, leeches, and cephalopod molluscs
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the aperture in the thorax of an insect that holds the leg
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of acetabulum
1660–70; < Latin: hip socket, cup-shaped part of a plant (Pliny), literally, small cup, originally for vinegar, equivalent to acēt ( um ) vinegar + -ā- by analogy with verbal derivatives ( cf. vocable) + -bulum suffix denoting instrument or vessel
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:
McCarthy’s voluminous research is everywhere on the page — and, yes, very impressive — but you may find yourself stopping to look up supercavitation, acetabulum or festination only to turn back having forgotten what’s happening.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 15, 2021
The head of the femur becomes abnormally shaped and no longer fits seamlessly in the acetabulum, or socket, putting the hip at risk of future injury.
From Washington Post ● May 15, 2017
These ligaments arise from the hip bone, at the margins of the acetabulum, and attach to the femur at the base of the neck.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
The acetabulum is further deepened by the acetabular labrum, a fibrocartilage lip attached to the outer margin of the acetabulum.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
A less formidable proceeding may be useful in cases where the acetabulum is diseased, but not deeply.
From A Manual of the Operations of Surgery For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners by Joseph Bell
For one thing, walking would expend more energy if the heads of the femurs were not secured in the acetabula of the pelvis.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
When he was but a child he was constantly tumbling down, due to the heads of the femurs slipping from the acetabula, but reduction was always easy.
From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by Walter L. (Walter Lytle) Pyle
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
