parietal

[puh-rahy-i-tl]

adjective

1. Anatomy.,  of, relating to, or situated near the side and top of the skull or the parietal bone.

2. Biology.,  of or relating to parietes or structural walls.

3. Botany.,  pertaining to or arising from a wall: usually applied to ovules when they proceed from or are borne on the walls or sides of the ovary.

4. pertaining to or having authority over residence, and especially visitation regulations between the sexes, within the walls or buildings of a college or university.

   a listing of the parietal regulations for the law students' dormitory.

noun

1. Anatomy.,  any of several parts in the parietal region of the skull, especially the parietal bone.

2. Also called parietal rules. parietals. campus regulations governing visits between members of opposite sexes to each other's dormitories or rooms.

parietal

/ pəˈraɪɪtəl /

adjective

1. anatomy biology of, relating to, or forming the walls or part of the walls of a bodily cavity or similar structure

   the parietal bones of the skull

2. of or relating to the side of the skull

3. (of plant ovaries) having ovules attached to the walls

4. living or having authority within a college

noun

1. a parietal bone

Other Word Forms

• interparietal adjective
• subparietal adjective
• transparietal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of parietal¹

1590–1600; < Late Latin parietālis of, belonging to walls, equivalent to Latin pariet- (stem of pariēs ) wall + -ālis -al ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of parietal¹

C16: from Late Latin parietālis, from Latin pariēs wall

Example Sentences

Research has shown that the premotor and posterior parietal cortices, along with the temporoparietal junction, are active in the brain when we are locating or thinking about ourselves.

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In another study, a research team found that parts of infants’ brains in charge of shifting attention in the frontal parietal cortex were activated in infants as young as three months old.

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By giving tissues that would otherwise have been discarded — 38 samples from the temporal cortex, five from the frontal cortex and two from the parietal association cortices — they provided the doctors with an invaluable tool.

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Researchers also found activity as expected in regions of the brain that encode visual and auditory inputs, as well as the parietal lobe, which is known to be involved in numerical and calculation-related functions.

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MRI scans revealed that most of the brain activity was concentrated in the angular gyrus, a portion of the parietal lobe of the brain.

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