sternum

1. 1.

   the flat bone that articulates with the clavicles and the first seven pairs of ribs

   Synonymsbreastbone

   Broaderbone

   Part ofthoraxaxial skeleton

   Partsgladiolusmanubriumxiphoid process

Other forms of sternum

plural

sterna

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about sternum

What does sternum mean?

sternum means "the flat bone that articulates with the clavicles and the first seven pairs of ribs".

How many syllables are in sternum?

sternum has 2 syllables: ster-num. The stress falls on "ster".

What is another word for sternum?

Close synonyms include breastbone. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is sternum a common word?

sternum is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.