suture

American  

[soo-cher] / ˈsu tʃər /

noun

• sutures
  plural

1. Surgery.

   1. a joining of the lips or edges of a wound or the like by stitching or some similar process.

   2. a particular method of doing this.

   3. one of the stitches or fastenings employed.

2. Anatomy.

   1. the line of junction of two bones, especially of the skull, in an immovable articulation.

   2. the articulation itself.

3. Zoology, Botany. the junction or line of junction of contiguous parts, as the line of closure between the valves of a bivalve shell, a seam where carpels of a pericarp join, etc.

4. a seam as formed in sewing; a line of junction between two parts.

5. a sewing together or a joining as by sewing.

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verb (used with object)

• sutures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• sutured,
  past participle,  past
• suturing
  present participle

1. to unite by or as by a suture.

suture British  

/ ˈsuːtʃə /

noun

1. surgery

   1. catgut, silk thread, or wire used to stitch together two bodily surfaces

   2. Also called: seam.  the surgical seam formed after joining two surfaces

2. anatomy a type of immovable joint, esp between the bones of the skull ( cranial suture )

3. a seam or joining, as in sewing

4. zoology a line of junction in a mollusc shell, esp the line between adjacent chambers of a nautiloid shell

5. botany a line marking the point of dehiscence in a seed pod or capsule

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verb

1. (tr) surgery to join (the edges of a wound, etc) by means of sutures

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• presutural
  adjective
• sutural
  adjective
• unsutured
  adjective
• suturally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• sutures
  plural

Participles

• suturing
  present
• sutured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• suture
  simple
• sutures
  simple
• have sutured
  perfect
• has sutured
  perfect
• am suturing
  progressive
• are suturing
  progressive
• is suturing
  progressive
• have been suturing
  perfect progressive
• has been suturing
  perfect progressive

Past

• sutured
  simple
• had sutured
  perfect
• was suturing
  progressive
• were suturing
  progressive
• had been suturing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will suture
  simple
• will have sutured
  perfect
• will be suturing
  progressive
• will have been suturing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of suture

1535–45; < Latin sūtūra seam, suture, equivalent to sūt ( us ) (past participle of suere to sew ¹ ) + -ūra -ure

Explanation

If your energetic dog gets his paws on your beloved teddy bear, and you don’t realize it until it’s too late, you might have to use a needle and thread to suture Teddy’s left arm back onto his body. Derived from the Latin sutura, which means “a sewing together,” the word suture can function as both a verb and a noun. Teddy’s situation aside, this word almost always refers to stitches performed on the human body. To suture is to stitch up a wound or incision. When used as a noun, it can refer to either the thread used for the stitching or the seam that is created by this process.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

suture sutures sutured suturing

"He is rightly celebrated internationally for his innovative and pioneering approach, including his introduction of the B-Lynch suture, which is still being used today."

From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026

“He thinks the failure rate is creeping up — we just haven’t proven it statistically yet — and therefore adding this synthetic strong suture will protect the the reconstruction over time.”

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 14, 2024

Veterinarians rehydrate it with saline solution before surgery, then lay it over a dog's corneal lesion and suture it into place, where it acts as scaffolding for regenerating cells.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 1, 2023

The unexpected finding led the team to hypothesize that another type of bone-forming stem cell was driving the abnormal suture fusion.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2023

He did the second suture; she tied it off and cut the thread.

From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby

Cuba’s once highly regarded medical services have deteriorated, so Mariño has bought all her own medical supplies for the birth of her daughter, including sutures and surgical tape.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Back in 2011, the writer-director was already tinkering with a version of the monster that resembled a blend of Iggy Pop and Boris Karloff with jagged sutures, gaunt wrinkles and a crushed nose.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025

He had 28-day-old sutures he contemplated removing himself because they itched so badly.

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2025

After being implanted in the body, where they were held in place by sutures, fibrotic scarring occurred.

From Science Daily ● May 22, 2024

It felt like I’d been holding in twelve billion gallons behind the sutures of my Lazarus Door scar.

From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith

For one group of rats, the sutured area was irradiated with a helium plasma jet.

From Science Daily ● May 21, 2024

During the embalming process, the body is cleaned and the mouth sutured closed.

From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2023

When this happens, doctors may recommend surgical treatments, such as a heart transplant or implantation of mechanical pumps that are sutured into the patient’s heart to help pump blood throughout the body.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 1, 2022

We feel as if a deep wound in the Chinese American experience is finally being sutured back together again.

From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2021

It was as though we were two halves of the same animal, sutured together by a bond deeper than flesh.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

“The Pitt” spent its first season suturing our heartstrings to these characters by way of an impressively profound level of character development, rounding out the individual quirks of seemingly minor recurring characters.

From Salon ● Jan. 8, 2026

In the medical area, adhesives play a crucial role, from suturing internal wounds to attaching sensors and implanting medical devices.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 13, 2024

“He was suturing in his sleep,” she says.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 17, 2023

Some involve injecting cardiomyocytes into the heart wall, others require suturing patches made from cells directly onto the heart.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 28, 2023

She bought an oxygen tank in case a baby came out and couldn’t breathe, and she took a suturing class so she could stitch the women who tore.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Related Words

• stitch