maxilla
Americannoun
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maxillae
plural
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a jaw or jawbone, especially the upper.
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one of the paired appendages immediately behind the mandibles of arthropods.
noun
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the upper jawbone in vertebrates See jaw
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any member of one or two pairs of mouthparts in insects and other arthropods used as accessory jaws
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maxillae
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of maxilla
1670–80; < New Latin, special use of Latin maxilla lower jaw, diminutive of māla (< *maxlā ) upper jaw, cheekbone
Vocabulary lists containing maxilla
Human Anatomy and Physiology - High School
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Animals (Zoology) - Middle School
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Human Anatomy and Physiology - Middle School
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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:
“The injuries I suffered led to a long and difficult recovery that I am still trying to recover from, including treatment for a severe traumatic brain injury, a shattered maxilla and a bone graft procedure.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
The Maori and Moriori skeletal remains, including skulls without mandibles, craniums, loose mandibles and maxilla fragments, were largely collected by Austrian taxidermist and grave robber Andreas Reischek from 1877 to 1889.
From Reuters ● Oct. 2, 2022
The skeletal remains, which include skulls without mandibles, craniums, loose mandibles and maxilla fragments, were handed over in an official ceremony in Vienna on Tuesday, where there was a panel and presentation.
From Reuters ● Sep. 29, 2022
If the maxilla doesn’t grow forward or wide enough, the mandible adjusts backward and down, so that the chin recedes and the face appears to lengthen.
From New York Times ● Aug. 20, 2020
The palatine process of the nasal does not meet the frontal process of the maxilla.
From Systematic Status of a South American Frog, Allophryne ruthveni Gaige by John D. Lynch
A few inches away sits a skull the size of a watermelon, thick ivory fangs jutting from its bleached maxillae.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
The second pair of maxillae are more or less completely fused together to form what is known as the labium or “lower lip.”
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4 "Hero" to "Hindu Chronology" by Various
Skull: Zygomatic arches shorter; tympanic bullae less inflated ventrally; zygomatic breadth less; mastoid breadth greater; width across alveolar processes of maxillae greater; alveolar length of upper molar series greater; molariform teeth larger.
From The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah, Vol. 1 No. 1 Kansas University Publications. by Stephen D. Durrant
Excretory System.—The most important excretory or renal organs of the Crustacea are two pairs of glands lying at the base of the antennae and of the second maxillae respectively.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 7 "Crocoite" to "Cuba" by Various
The Hemiptera, with their piercing mandibles and first maxillae and with their second maxillae fused to form a jointed beak, stand far apart from them.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4 "Hero" to "Hindu Chronology" by Various
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.
