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trabecula

American  
[truh-bek-yuh-luh] / trəˈbɛk jə lə /

noun

trabeculae plural
  1. Anatomy, Botany. a structural part resembling a small beam or crossbar.

  2. Botany. one of the projections from the cell wall that extends across the cavity of the ducts of certain plants, or the plate of cells across the cavity of the sporangium of a moss.


trabecula British  
/ trəˈbɛkjʊlə /

noun

  1. any of various rod-shaped structures that divide organs into separate chambers

  2. any of various rod-shaped cells or structures that bridge a cavity, as within the capsule of a moss or across the lumen of a cell

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Nouns

Etymology

Origin of trabecula

1815–25; < New Latin trabēcula, Latin: little beam, equivalent to trabē ( s ) beam + -cula -cule 1

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 trabeculae may appear to be a random network, but each trabecula forms along lines of stress to provide strength to the bone.

From Textbooks Jun. 19, 2013

Each node of a trabecula may be simple, i.e. have only one centre of calcification, or may be compound.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo" by Various

The medial liver trabecula into which the enteron was seen to open, in the preceding figure, now opens ventrally to the yolk-sac as the anterior intestinal portal.

From Development of the Digestive Canal of the American Alligator by Reese, C. M.

Using medical imaging as a guide, they recreated the delicate lattice known as trabeculae that gives bone its internal strength.

From Science Daily Mar. 3, 2026

Spongy bone tissue is composed of trabeculae and forms the inner part of all bones.

From Textbooks Jun. 9, 2022

The trabeculae and lobules, including the darkly staining cortex and the lighter staining medulla of each lobule, are clearly visible in the light micrograph of the thymus of a newborn.

From Textbooks Jun. 19, 2013

Like the thymus, the bean- shaped lymph nodes are surrounded by a tough capsule of connective tissue and are separated into compartments by trabeculae, the extensions of the capsule.

From Textbooks Jun. 19, 2013

The aporose corals, too, have a practically identical structure, their compactness being due to the union of the trabeculae throughout their entire lengths instead of at intervals, as in the Perforata.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo" by Various

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