vertebra

[ vur-tuh-bruh ]

/ ˈvɜr tə brə /

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See synonyms for: vertebrae on Thesaurus.com

noun, plural ver·te·brae

[vur-tuh-bree, -brey], /ˈvɜr təˌbri, -ˌbreɪ/, ver·te·bras.Anatomy, Zoology.

any of the bones or segments composing the spinal column, consisting typically of a cylindrical body and an arch with various processes, and forming a foramen, or opening, through which the spinal cord passes.

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Origin of vertebra

1570–80; <Latin: (spinal) joint, equivalent to verte(re) to turn (see verse) + -bra noun suffix

Words nearby vertebra

verso, verst, versus, vert, vertebr-, vertebra, vertebral, vertebral canal, vertebral column, Vertebrata, vertebrate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use vertebra in a sentence

The bullet had burst her C5 vertebra, but, remarkably, the round had tumbled millimeters past her major arteries and narrowly missed severing her spine.
Two kids, a loaded gun and the man who left a 4-year-old to die|John Woodrow Cox|September 27, 2021|Washington Post
It introduced readers to Tina Brooks, a former police officer who fractured a vertebra in her back and damaged three others in her neck when she plunged 15 feet down a steep quarry while training for bicycle patrol.
Loan Forgiveness for Disabled Borrowers Was 10 Years in the Making|by Stephen Engelberg|September 8, 2021|ProPublica
It includes five percussion speeds and comes with five heads, including a fork head to get muscles close to the vertebrae.
Best back massager: Target your sore spots and release that tension for sweet relief|Irena Collaku|August 12, 2021|Popular-Science
Large bone fragments and teeth appear to be well-preserved, but smaller bones like vertebrae or thin rib bones likely didn’t survive as well.
To find answers about the 1921 race massacre, Tulsa digs up its painful past|Helen Thompson|May 27, 2021|Science News

These vertebrae also preserve annual growth bands, like the rings of a tree, showing how the fish grew.
Newborn megalodon sharks were larger than most adult humans|Carolyn Gramling|January 12, 2021|Science News
I have no idea when the second vertebra went out during the battle.
Send Bin Laden the Bill: Dakota Meyer on His Return From Afghanistan|Dakota Meyer|September 29, 2012|DAILY BEAST
One vertebra had given way in Ganjigal when I picked up an Askar and slipped in the bloody mud under him.
Send Bin Laden the Bill: Dakota Meyer on His Return From Afghanistan|Dakota Meyer|September 29, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Such a contrivance would save his feet, check his perspiration, and console his dorsal vertebra.
Our Churches and Chapels|Atticus
But I also find the petrified vertebra of an antediluvian animal upon which the Trojans have carved a large owls head.
Troy and its Remains|Henry (Heinrich) Schliemann
The ball passed through the liver and diaphragm, and lodged in the vertebra.
Great Events in the History of North and South America|Charles A. Goodrich
Pleurapoph′ysis, a lateral process of a vertebra, with the morphological character of a rib:—pl.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R)|Various
Probably not; and more especially if it is a lumbar artery, and injured in the foramen through which it passes from the vertebra.
Report on Surgery to the Santa Clara County Medical Society|Joseph Bradford Cox

British Dictionary definitions for vertebra

vertebra

/ (ˈvɜːtɪbrə) /

noun plural -brae (-briː) or -bras

one of the bony segments of the spinal column

Derived forms of vertebra

vertebral, adjectivevertebrally, adverb

Word Origin for vertebra

C17: from Latin: joint of the spine, from vertere to turn

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

Scientific definitions for vertebra

vertebra

[ vûr′tə-brə ]

Plural vertebrae (vûr′tə-brā′, -brē′) vertebras

Any of the bones that make up the vertebral column. Each vertebra contains an arched, hollow section through which the spinal cord passes. In humans, the vertebrae are divided into cervical, thoracic, and lumbar sections, and the sacrum and coccyx are both made up of a series of fused vertebrae. The vertebrae are separated by cartilaginous intervertebral disks. See more at skeleton.