fenestration

[fen-uh-strey-shuh n]

See more synonyms for fenestration on Thesaurus.com

noun

the design and disposition of windows and other exterior openings of a building.
Furniture. an ornamental motif having the form of a blind arcade or arch, as in medieval cabinetwork.
Medicine/Medical, Surgery.
1. a perforation in a structure.
2. an operation to effect such an opening.
3. Also called fenestration operation, Lempert operation.the creation of an artificial opening into the labyrinth of the ear to restore hearing loss from otosclerosis.

Origin of fenestration

1840–50; < Latin fenestrāt(us) (see fenestrated) + -ion

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for fenestration

bay, aperture, bow, fenestella, oriel, jalousie, dormer, casement, fenestration, fanlight, fenestra, lunette, skylight, porthole, lancet, lucarne, mullioned

Examples from the Web for fenestration

Historical Examples of fenestration

It is formed by a fenestration of a primitively continuous cartilaginous coracoid plate (Hoffmann).
The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume III (of 4)
Francis Maitland Balfour
The fenestration of this cathedral of St. Louis reign shows the national art in its prime.
How France Built Her Cathedrals
Elizabeth Boyle O'Reilly
A rope with a bolt attached had been flung across and had caught in a fenestration of a projecting fragment of railing.
The War in the Air
Herbert George Wells
This change in the fenestration restored the building to its appearance as shown in Civil War photographs of the courthouse.
The Fairfax County Courthouse
Ross D. Netherton
The fenestration differs in several respects from that of similar houses erected a quarter century later.
The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia
Frank Cousins

British Dictionary definitions for fenestration

fenestration

noun

the arrangement and design of windows in a building
a surgical operation to restore hearing by making an artificial opening into the labyrinth of the ear

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fenestration

1870 in the anatomical sense, noun of action from Latin fenestrare, from fenestra "window, opening for light," perhaps from Etruscan. Meaning "arrangement of windows" is from 1846. Related: Fenestrated.

fenestration in Medicine

fenestration

[fĕn′ĭ-strā′shən]

An opening in the surface of a structure, as in a membrane.
The surgical creation of such an opening.
The surgical creation of an artificial opening in the bony part of the inner ear to improve or restore hearing.