false rib

American

noun

Anatomy.

any of the lower five ribs on either side of the body, which are not directly attached to the sternum.

Etymology

Origin of false rib

First recorded in 1490–1500

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.

"In the right side, my lord; but, fortunately, towards the lower false rib."

From Project Gutenberg

We have long been derided and scoffed at for making connubialism marketable, and putting a price on a wife's infidelity, but it strikes me this is something worse; for what, after all, is a rib—a false rib, too—compared with the whole bony skeleton?

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023