fusiform

[ fyoo-zuh-fawrm ]

adjective

1. spindle-shaped; rounded and tapering from the middle toward each end, as some roots.

fusiform

/ ˈfjuːzɪˌfɔːm /

adjective

1. elongated and tapering at both ends; spindle-shaped

Other Words From

• sub·fusi·form adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fusiform¹

1740–50; < Latin fūs ( us ) spindle + -i- + -form

Word History and Origins

Origin of fusiform¹

C18: from Latin fūsus spindle

Example Sentences

The face game players use areas of the brain specializing in recognizing faces—the fusiform and occipital face areas.

From Nautilus

Then your noggin’s face- and color-recognition unit, the fusiform gyrus, puts it into context.

From Popular-Science

It is probably caused by two micro-organisms living in symbiosis—one a fusiform bacillus, the other a long spirillum (Fig. 124).

From Project Gutenberg

In some the figure approaches to fusiform, as in most of the moths of the Fabrician genus Lithosia.

From Project Gutenberg

Fusiform: Outline of a parsnip, narrow at either end, broadest below the surface (Fig. 151, k).

From Project Gutenberg

The larva has a soft fusiform body, surmounted by a somewhat globose head.

From Project Gutenberg

The elaters are never fusiform, the apices always abrupt in their acumination, and the sculpture irregular and uneven.

From Project Gutenberg