phalange
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of phalange
First recorded in 1550–60; back formation from phalanges
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 shorter and more thick-set the nail phalange is, giving the appearance of a club, the more ungovernable is the person in his or her temper.
From Palmistry for All by Cheiro
An immense pneumatic foramen is situate in a groove on the under side of the upper end of the first phalange in Ornithocheirus, but is absent in specimens from the Kimeridge clay.
From Dragons of the Air An Account of Extinct Flying Reptiles by Seeley, H. G.
The family may be divided into two subfamilies, of which the Emballonurinae is characterized by the incomplete premaxillae, the presence of only one phalange in the index finger, and the short tail.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" by Various
The fourth has a long and rather slender metacarpal, and three phalanges diminishing in size, the terminal phalange being very small.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 10 "Echinoderma" to "Edward" by Various
Every claw and phalange has left its mark in the stone; while the trifid termination of the tarso-metatarsal bone leaves three marks more,—fifteen in all,—the true ornithic number.
From The Testimony of the Rocks or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed by Miller, Hugh
She uses it to tap fatefully on trees and listen for the tiny movements of tasty grubs within, which she then extracts using those same Nosferatu phalanges.
From Salon ● May 11, 2025
On Sunday, Barker shared graphic photos of his blood-stained pants and sanguinary phalanges, which took a beating after Blink-182’s set in Manchester, England.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2023
I'd start with a small, manageable story: one hand has twenty-seven bones, split into three types—the carpals, the metacarpals, and the slippery phalanges.
From Salon ● Oct. 19, 2022
The phalanges fall into line like a picket fence with boards of varying lengths, the knuckles unknobby.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 2, 2021
We have five fingers because we have descended from a Devonian fish that had five phalanges or bones in its fins.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
