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

"There'll be rapid tests, suture kits, syringes, oxygen supplies, vaccines and a small fridge for storing medicines," it explained in a statement.

From BBC ● May 5, 2025

“He and I are both doing the same thing, same philosophy, in adding braided suture to repair and enhance the existing torn ligament as well as putting in the new graft,” ElAttrache said.

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

Sean wasn’t even supposed to have these things; EMTs didn’t suture in the field.

From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby

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

In recent news, there has been a case where a patient experienced pain due to a surgical procedure involving sutures, resulting in the unintended presence of gauze within the patient's body.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2024

Already researchers have harnessed spider silk for a biomedical and engineering uses as sutures and scaffolding for regrowing tissue.

From Science Magazine ● Jan. 12, 2024

I’ve lost my composure in front of a stranger, and ripped open the sutures of my Bas-shaped wound, all over again, because they never seem to heal.

From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse

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

From Science Daily ● May 21, 2024

Rodriguez could now follow the contour of the tube with a surgical device that sequentially cut, stapled and sutured stomach tissue.

From New York Times ● Oct. 31, 2023

Once sedated, it was transported to a veterinary practice at Birtley where it underwent X-rays and a wound suffered when it had attempted to escape the trap was cleaned and sutured.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2022

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

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

I experienced, firsthand, how incredibly useful and even crucial physician assistants can be; they handled duties like suturing and treating minor injuries, freeing me up to focus on more complex cases.

From Salon ● May 16, 2024

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

At age thirty-nine he’d already invented the first technique for suturing blood vessels together, and had used it to perform the first coronary bypass and develop methods for transplanting organs.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Related Words

• stitch