mastoid process

American  

noun

1. a large, bony prominence on the base of the skull behind the ear, containing air spaces that connect with the middle ear cavity.

---

mastoid process Scientific  

/ măs′toid′ /

1. A protruding bony area in the lower part of the skull that is located behind the ear in humans and many other vertebrates and serves as a site of muscle attachment. The mastoid process contains small air-filled cavities called mastoid cells that communicate with the middle ear.

---

Etymology

Origin of mastoid process

First recorded in 1725–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mastoid process

The mastoid process can easily be felt on the side of the head just behind your earlobe.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

Projecting inferiorly from this region is a large prominence, the mastoid process, which serves as a muscle attachment site.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

During early childhood, the mastoid process enlarges, the two halves of the mandible and frontal bone fuse together to form single bones, and the paranasal sinuses enlarge.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

Stylomastoid foramen—This small opening is located between the styloid process and mastoid process.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

In two other cases that I saw, in one the bullet was lodged in the zygomatic fossa, in the second just below the mastoid process.

From Surgical Experiences in South Africa, 1899-1900 Being Mainly a Clinical Study of the Nature and Effects of Injuries Produced by Bullets of Small Calibre by Makins, George Henry