cranial

American  

[kray-nee-uhl] / ˈkreɪ ni əl /

adjective

1. of or relating to the cranium or skull.

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cranial British  

/ ˈkreɪnɪəl /

adjective

1. of or relating to the skull

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cranial Scientific  

/ krā′nē-əl /

1. Located in or involving the skull or cranium.

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Other Word Forms

• intercranial
  adjective
• precranial
  adjective
• subcranial
  adjective
• cranially
  adverb
• precranially
  adverb
• subcranially
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of cranial

First recorded in 1790–1800; crani(um) + -al ¹

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Explanation

Something that's cranial has to do with your skull. A severe cranial injury requires testing to make sure you don't have a concussion. Your cranium is your skull — the hard bone that encloses and protects your brain. Things that are cranial are connected to this part of your body — the cranial space is the area inside your skull, and cranial nerves are connected to your brain. The Greek root of both cranium and cranial is kranion, "skull" or "upper part of the head."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cranial

And because the jaw and the nervous system are so closely linked through the major cranial nerves, our muscles are triggered and we clench and grind our teeth.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

Medtronic is a key player in the $15 billion External link cranial and spinal technologies market.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

Feeling for bumps and other cranial features, practitioners created a profile of the sitter’s character.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

For those who do survive, he added, 50 percent of them are left with long-term physical or mental impairments, running the gambit from intellectual disability, seizures, paralysis and cranial nerve dysfunction.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2024

Hugh told me that I was wasting my time, that they were looking for people who'd bought platinum watches, not rusted cranial saws.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

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