breastbone
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of breastbone
before 1000; Middle English brust-bon, Old English brēostbān. See breast, bone ( def. )
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.
Then the dusty elephant with those arched and dome-like toenails that is standing on my breastbone is lighter.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
Vanellope still has no breastbone, leaving her heart covered by just by a thin layer of skin.
From BBC • Apr. 22, 2025
Spatchcocking involves using kitchen shears to cut out the backbone of the turkey and flipping it breast side up, pushing on that breastbone hard to crack it, allowing the turkey to lie flat.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 16, 2023
One evening, mid-dream, Merrell threw himself into a corner of a nightstand, breaking his skin but narrowly missing his breastbone.
From Scientific American • Jan. 24, 2023
Then, without warning, all the immunity wore off, and I felt the hollow, spooned-out space between my navel and breastbone begin to ache.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
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.
