Library / English Dictionary

VERTEBRAL COLUMN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The series of vertebrae forming the axis of the skeleton and protecting the spinal cord

Example:

the fall broke his back

Synonyms:

back; backbone; rachis; spinal column; spine; vertebral column

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("vertebral column" is a kind of...):

skeletal structure (any structure created by the skeleton of an organism)

Meronyms (parts of "vertebral column"):

canalis vertebralis; spinal canal; vertebral canal (the canal in successive vertebrae through which the spinal cord passes)

coccyx; tail bone (the end of the vertebral column in humans and tailless apes)

vertebra (one of the bony segments of the spinal column)

intervertebral disc; intervertebral disk (a fibrocartilaginous disc serving as a cushion between all of the vertebrae of the spinal column (except between the first two))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "vertebral column"):

notochord (a flexible rodlike structure that forms the supporting axis of the body in the lowest chordates and lowest vertebrates and in embryos of higher vertebrates)

chine (backbone of an animal)

Holonyms ("vertebral column" is a part of...):

axial skeleton (the part of the skeleton that includes the skull and spinal column and sternum and ribs)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A group of three muscles (iliocostalis, longissimus, and spinalis) that originate at the sacrum, ilium, and lumbar vertebrae spines and insert into the ribs and vertebra in order to extend the vertebral column.

(Erector Spinae, NCI Thesaurus)

Administration within the vertebral column.

(Intraspinal Route of Administration, Food and Drug Administration/CDISC)