protrusion
Americannoun
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the act of protruding or the state of being protruded.
-
something that protrudes or projects.
- Synonyms:
- protuberance, bulge, projection, jut
noun
-
something that protrudes
-
the state or condition of being protruded
-
the act or process of protruding
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of protrusion
1640–50; < Latin prōtrūs ( us ) (past participle of prōtrūdere to protrude ) + -ion
Explanation
Anything that sticks or juts out from a surface is a protrusion. When you're rock climbing, every protrusion is a possible handle to grab or step to stand on. In medicine, most protrusions are evidence of some disorder or illness, like a bulging protrusion in your belly. Most other protrusions, though, are perfectly normal: your nose is a protrusion in the middle of your face, and a spire can be described as a protrusion on the top of a church. The Latin source of protrusion is protrudere, "to push out."
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:
When it’s almost time for the plant to open, the spadix — a conic protrusion from inside the plant — emerges and accelerates in growth, climbing up to six inches per day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
The surgery is to repair an inguinal hernia -- a protrusion in the groin area due to a tear in the abdominal muscles.
From Barron's ● Dec. 25, 2025
I watched an older woman grow overcome by the proclamation that a protrusion in her abdomen was being burned out of her body.
From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2024
It causes a sac-like protrusion of brain tissue coming out of an opening in the skull and impacts about 1 in 10,000 babies born in the U.S.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2024
At the end of it, a fingerlike protrusion wiggles and grasps.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Grey matter consists of neuronal cell bodies and their dendrites - short protrusions that communicate with neurons nearby.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2026
If an oarfish happens to swim up to the ocean’s surface, a sailor would see a long slithering creature with spiky protrusions on its head and could believe it was a sea monster, Paig-Tran said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2024
Inside the body, many surfaces such as tissues, blood vessels, or protrusions have a curved shape.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 18, 2024
It was first climbed in 1957 by a team who took 18 months searching for protrusions and cracks to use as holds and driving heavy metal spikes into the rock where no holds existed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2024
That was when he saw it: protrusions deep within the temporal bone, where the ear canal would have been.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
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.
