petrous
Americanadjective
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Anatomy. noting or pertaining to the hard dense portion of the temporal bone, containing the internal auditory organs; petrosal.
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like stone, especially in hardness; stony; rocky.
adjective
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anatomy denoting the dense part of the temporal bone that surrounds the inner ear
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rare like rock or stone
Other Word Forms
- superpetrous adjective
Etymology
Origin of petrous
1350–1400; Middle English (< Middle French petros ) < Latin petrōsus rocky. See petr-, -ous
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.
Researchers targeted DNA stored in the petrous, a very dense bone that envelopes the inner ear.
From New York Times
The researchers located ancient DNA in their petrous bones—dense inner ear bones that preserve genetic material particularly well—but only managed to successfully retrieve a complete genome from the man.
From Science Magazine
In recent years, however, scientists have learned that the petrous bone of the inner ear contains an unusually high quantity of DNA, allowing them to locate usable genetic material even in otherwise degraded skeletons.
From Science Magazine
As an example, many researchers focus their sampling effort on the petrous bone, the hard portion of the temporal bone at the base of the skull, which houses the intricate structures of the inner ear.
From Nature
Researchers used the teeth and petrous bones of the remains to analyze their DNA.
From Fox News
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.
