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Showing results for apophysis. Search instead for apophyses.

apophysis

American  
[uh-pof-uh-sis] / əˈpɒf ə sɪs /

noun

plural

apophyses
  1. Anatomy, Botany. an outgrowth; process; projection or protuberance.

  2. Architecture. apophyge.


apophysis British  
/ -seɪt, əˈpɒfɪsɪs, əˈpɒfɪsɪt, ˌæpəˈfɪzɪəl /

noun

  1. a process, outgrowth, or swelling from part of an animal or plant

  2. geology a tapering offshoot from a larger igneous intrusive mass

"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

Other Word Forms

  • apophysary adjective
  • apophysate adjective
  • apophyseal adjective
  • apophysial adjective
  • interapophyseal adjective

Etymology

Origin of apophysis

1605–15; < New Latin < Greek: offshoot, equivalent to apo- apo- + phýsis growth, equivalent to phý ( ein ) to bring forth + -sis -sis

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The lemurian apophysis already alluded to is not uncommon.

From Criminal Man According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso by Lombroso, Gina

The apophysis was broken, and the extent of the fracture shows the great force of the blow.

From Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples by D'Anvers, N.

In Ochrotomys, the orbicular apophysis of the malleus resembles the orbicular apophysis of B. musculus, but the short process of the incus is longer, resembling the short process of B. taylori.

From Speciation and Evolution of the Pygmy Mice, Genus Baiomys by Packard, Robert L.

An ordinary Cow, and a Bull without horns, will produce a calf resembling the male in appearance and character, without horns and without that particular prominence of the transverse apophysis of the frontal bone.

From Delineations of the Ox Tribe The Natural History of Bulls, Bisons, and Buffaloes. Exhibiting all the Known Species and the More Remarkable Varieties of the Genus Bos. by Vasey, George

The apophysis represents the later and larger growth of the cone-scale.

From The Genus Pinus by Shaw, George Russell