costal cartilage
noun
Simple meaning
The cartilages that connect the sternum and the ends of the ribs.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kawstuhlkahrtuhluhjSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɔstəlkɑɹtələdʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
anatomy
The cartilages that connect the sternum and the ends of the ribs; its elasticity allows the chest to move in respiration
anatomy
One of the bars of hyaline cartilage, found at the anterior ends of the ribs, that serve to prolong the ribs forward and contribute to the elasticity of the walls of the thorax.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The cartilages that connect the sternum and the ends of the ribs; its elasticity allows the chest to move in respiration
Used this way, costal cartilage is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.