clavicle

American  

[klav-i-kuhl] / ˈklæv ɪ kəl /

noun

Anatomy, Zoology.

clavicles plural

1. a bone of the pectoral arch.

2. (in humans) either of two slender bones, each articulating with the sternum and a scapula and forming the anterior part of a shoulder; collarbone.

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clavicle British  

/ kləˈvɪkjʊlə, kləˈvɪkjʊˌleɪt, ˈklævɪkəl /

noun

1. Nontechnical name: collarbone.  either of the two bones connecting the shoulder blades with the upper part of the breastbone

2. the corresponding structure in other vertebrates

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clavicle Scientific  

/ klăv′ĭ-kəl /

1. Either of two slender bones that extend from the upper part of the sternum (breastbone) to the shoulder.

2. Also called collarbone

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• clavicular
  adjective
• claviculate
  adjective
• subclavicular
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• clavicles
  plural

Etymology

Origin of clavicle

1605–15; < Medieval Latin clāvicula collarbone, Latin: tendril, door-bolt, little key, equivalent to clāvi ( s ) key + -cula -cule ¹

Explanation

The clavicle, more commonly known as the collarbone, connects your shoulder blade to you sternum. The clavicle is the only long horizontal bone in the body (all the other long bones are vertical, such as those in the arms and legs). It evolved to provide a structural support for the arms, and also to serve as protection around blood vessels and nerves in that part of the body. The clavicles of birds are Y-shaped and, on a holiday turkey, are also called the "wishbone."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clavicle clavicles

On the three-year weekly chart, the stock appears to be carving out what could become the right clavicle of a larger bearish head-and-shoulders formation.

From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026

"Barrie McDermott dived on top of me and I popped my clavicle joint," Davies recalls.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2025

Witherspoon, who suffered a broken clavicle during the Rams’ victory over the Tennessee Titans last Sunday, is expected to be sidelined for 12 weeks, McVay said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2025

In the season’s sixth game, Burakovsky broke his clavicle when shoved off-balance into the boards by notorious New York Rangers “hit” man Jacob Trouba — again without the Kraken responding.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 27, 2024

And Lee carefully packed the bones, femurs, and tibias really straight, skull in the middle, with pelvis and clavicle surrounding it and ribs curving on either side.

From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck

The courtroom had to be evacuated at the precise moment when sleepy jurors’ chins were dropping toward their clavicles, notwithstanding the riveting testimony of FBI automotive forensic specialist Dwight Falkofske.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 10, 2023

I recently read an article in a fashion magazine advising women to wear low-cut dresses so as to show off … their clavicles.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 21, 2016

That day in Brooklyn, Jackson wore glasses, a plaid shirt open to just below the clavicles and shoes with insouciant laces that looked ready to untie themselves at any moment.

From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2016

Peat cutters occasionally churn up ancient mandibles, clavicles, or entire cadavers that have been preserved for millennia.

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 9, 2015

There are short lateral processes at the point where the interclavicle was overlapped by the clavicles, but we cannot be sure of the extent of this bone anteriorly or posteriorly.

From A New Order of Fishlike Amphibia From the Pennsylvanian of Kansas by Eaton, Theodore H. (Theodore Hildreth)