cranial

[krey-nee-uhl]

adjective

1. of or relating to the cranium or skull.

cranial

/ ˈkreɪnɪəl /

adjective

1. of or relating to the skull

cranial

1. Located in or involving the skull or cranium.

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of cranial¹

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

Example Sentences

Last summer, a worker installing a cable 20 feet overhead, without fall protection, tumbled off and suffered cranial bleeding.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But one twin's diagnosis with acrania — a rare, fatal congenital disorder characterized by the full or partial absence of cranial bones — sent Brandt's world into a grief-stricken tailspin.

Read more on Salon

Following the surgery, Mr Coles, who was 66, was unable to swallow due to cranial nerve damage.

Read more on BBC

The reason: Wearing the devices just occasionally tricks your brain into thinking you don’t need them, and that’ll confuse the prized three-pound master cranial organ a top your spinal cord.

Read more on Salon

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.

Read more on Salon