mastoid
Americanadjective
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shaped like a nipple or breast
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designating or relating to a nipple-like process of the temporal bone behind the ear
noun
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the mastoid process
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informal mastoiditis
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of mastoid
1725–35; < New Latin mastoīdēs < Greek mastoeidḗs. See masto-, -oid
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 part, the look of those “big eyes” was informed by a mastoid operation that permanently damaged Ms. Keane’s hearing when she was 2.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 29, 2022
The Hopkins researchers eventually found the genetic signature of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in two of the three cadavers, confirming that the virus can make its way to the middle ear and mastoid.
From Salon ● Jan. 17, 2022
But on the right side there was something else: A mass about the size of a strawberry had destroyed much of the mastoid bone just behind her ear.
From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2021
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
So far, aside from one scare—at five, Milton had nearly died from a mastoid infection— they had both been healthy.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
