parietal

American  

[puh-rahy-i-tl] / pəˈraɪ ɪ 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.

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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 British  

/ 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

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noun

1. a parietal bone

Other Word Forms

• interparietal adjective
• subparietal adjective
• transparietal adjective

Etymology

Origin of parietal

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

Example Sentences

But we also have the insula, which processes risk, including the risk of social ostracization—to which the parietal cortex makes us extremely sensitive.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.

From Salon

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.

From Salon

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.

From Salon

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.

From Science Daily