Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for trigeminal. Search instead for trigeminal-rhizotomy.

trigeminal

American  
[trahy-jem-uh-nl] / traɪˈdʒɛm ə nl /

adjective

  1. of or relating to the trigeminal nerve.


noun

  1. Also called trigeminal nerve.  either one of the fifth pair of cranial nerves, consisting of motor fibers that innervate the muscles of mastication, and of sensory fibers that conduct impulses from the head and face to the brain.

trigeminal British  
/ traɪˈdʒɛmɪnəl /

adjective

  1. anatomy of or relating to the trigeminal nerve

"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

Etymology

Origin of trigeminal

1820–30; < New Latin trigemin ( us ) ( Latin: triple, equivalent to tri- tri- + geminus twin, double) + -al 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.

One was the trigeminal nerve, which carries sensory information from the skin and surface of the head.

From Science Daily • Dec. 18, 2025

She said that she was also diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia earlier in the year.

From BBC • Jul. 15, 2025

She was battling the chronic pain disorder trigeminal neuralgia.

From New York Times • Mar. 19, 2024

Before kicking “Boast Rattle” off, Ayers pauses to set a complimentary mood: “I’m gonna get into the Boasting spirit and talk to you guys about a brain disease I have called trigeminal neuralgia,” he begins.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2023

As regards hearing, I have noticed serious impairment only in five cases, all of them of a severe type of trigeminal neuralgia, involving all three divisions of the nerve.

From Neuralgia and the Diseases that Resemble it by Anstie, Francis E.