Library / English Dictionary

CRANIUM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: crania   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The part of the skull that encloses the brain

Synonyms:

braincase; brainpan; cranium

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("cranium" is a kind of...):

bone; os (rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates)

Meronyms (parts of "cranium"):

foramen magnum (the large opening at the base of the cranium through which the spinal cord passes)

fontanel; fontanelle; soft spot (any membranous gap between the bones of the cranium in an infant or fetus)

interparietal suture; sagittal suture; sutura sagittalis (the suture uniting the two parietal bones)

parietomastoid suture (the suture between the parietal and the temporal bones)

occipitomastoid suture (the suture between the occipital and the temporal bones; a continuation of the lamboid suture)

lamboid suture; sutura lamboidea (the suture between the occipital and parietal bones)

frontal suture; sutura frontalis (the suture between two halves of the frontal bone (usually obliterated by the age of 6))

coronal suture; sutura coronalis (the suture between the parietal and frontal bones of the skull)

occipital bone (a saucer-shaped membrane bone that forms the back of the skull)

parietal bone (either of two skull bones between the frontal and occipital bones and forming the top and sides of the cranium)

forehead; frontal bone; os frontale (the large cranial bone forming the front part of the cranium: includes the upper part of the orbits)

calvaria; skullcap (the dome of the skull)

os temporale; temporal bone (a thick bone forming the side of the human cranium and encasing the inner ear)

ethmoid; ethmoid bone (one of the eight bones of the cranium; a small bone filled with air spaces that forms part of the eye sockets and the nasal cavity)

stephanion (the craniometric point on the coronal suture above the acoustic meatus)

asterion (the craniometric point at the junction of the lamboid suture and the occipitomastoid suture and the parietomastoid suture)

Holonyms ("cranium" is a part of...):

skull (the bony skeleton of the head of vertebrates)

Derivation:

cranial (of or relating to the cranium which encloses the brain)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Relating to the cranium and the spinal column.

(Craniospinal, NCI Thesaurus)

This bone is positioned at the anterior part of the cranium, sitting between the two orbits, at the roof of the nose.

(Ethmoid Bone, NCI Thesaurus)

An anterior ethmoidal artery branch that supplies the meningeal tissues in the anterior fossa of the cranium.

(Anterior Meningeal Artery, NCI Thesaurus)

Surgery to remove a portion of the cranium.

(Craniectomy, NCI Thesaurus)

The cranium "has a mix of primitive and derived facial and cranial features that I didn't expect to see on a single individual," said Haile-Selassie.

(3.8-million-year-old fossil cranium unveils more about human ancestry, National Science Foundation)

It is protected by the bony cranium.

(Brain, NCI Thesaurus)

Any component of the central nervous system that is contained within the cranium.

(Brain Part, NCI Thesaurus)

A rare, rapid growing, non-encapsulated benign neoplasm that arises from the cranium.

(Cranial Nodular Fasciitis, NCI Thesaurus)

Of or relating to the cranium.

(Cranial, NCI Thesaurus)

A congenital abnormality in which the meninges protrude through a defect in the spinal column or the cranium.

(Meningocele, NCI Thesaurus)