costal
Americanadjective
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Anatomy. pertaining to the ribs or the upper sides of the body.
costal nerves.
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Botany, Zoology. pertaining to, involving, or situated near a costa.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of costal
1625–35; < Medieval Latin costālis of the ribs, equivalent to Latin cost ( a ) rib, side + -ālis -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.
Gov. Newsom has declared a statewide emergency for California in anticipation of this winter’s El Niño-fueled storms, a new sign of growing worry about costal flooding and high waves expected in the coming months.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
This provided direct evidence of costal aspiration breathing, where muscles between the ribs expand and compress the chest cavity to pull air into the lungs.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 23, 2026
Hundreds of thousands of people were facing power outages on Tuesday that could take days to restore after a sweeping costal storm battered the Northeast with whipping winds and soaking downpours.
From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2023
Imran Hussein, from Bangladesh, lost his father in cyclone Aila in 2009 and says he is extremely worried about sea level rise in his costal home.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2022
Triangular openings on either side of middorsal line between proximal ends of costal plates and developing neural plates.
From Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz by John M. Legler
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.
