labrum
1 Americannoun
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labra
plural
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a lip or liplike part.
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Zoology.
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the anterior, unpaired member of the mouthparts of an arthropod, projecting in front of the mouth.
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the outer margin of the aperture of a shell of a gastropod.
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Anatomy. a ring of cartilage about the edge of a joint surface of a bone.
noun
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labra
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of labrum1
1810–20; < Latin: lip; akin to labium
Origin of labrum2
< Latin lābrum basin, contraction of lavābrum bathtub, equivalent to lavā ( re ) to wash + -brum instrumental suffix
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.
See Examples For:
Luffy beetles have the dorsal ridge teeth found in this lineage, but their labrum is not completely sclerotized.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
With just one competition under her belt this season, she dislocated her shoulder and sustained a torn labrum in what she described as the "silliest fall" in training in Switzerland last month.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026
When the halfpipe superstar tore her labrum in her left shoulder in training a month ago, her hopes of becoming the first person to win three consecutive Olympic snowboarding gold medals were in jeopardy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026
American Chloe Kim, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the halfpipe, will have to wear a shoulder brace after tearing her labrum.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2026
T, telson, having the uropods or appendages of the last abdominal somite spread out on either side of it, forming the “tail-fan.” l, labrum, or upper lip. m, metastoma, or lower lip.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 7 "Crocoite" to "Cuba" by Various
Thomas was already playing with partially torn labra in both shoulders.
From New York Times ● Sep. 25, 2020
He acknowledged the cold truths about torn labra: They can’t heal on their own, and most players who suffer similar ruptures end up on the operating table.
From New York Times ● Apr. 2, 2019
First, they suggest that the anomalocaridid’s frontal appendages are analogous to the mouthparts, or labra, of arthropods.
From Nature ● Jul. 15, 2014
Verily, a speech worthy of the orator and of those who sent him, similes habent labra lactucas.
From Bartholomew Sastrow Being the Memoirs of a German Burgomaster by Bartholomew Sastrow
There is in the Vatican a magnificent porphyry labrum found in one of the imperial baths; and Baccius, a great modern authority on baths, speaks of labra made of glass.
From Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life by T. L. (Thomas Louis) Haines
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.
