platysma

American  

[pluh-tiz-muh] / pləˈtɪz mə /

noun

Anatomy.

plural

platysmas, platysmata

1. a broad, thin muscle on each side of the neck, extending from the upper part of the shoulder to the corner of the mouth, the action of which wrinkles the skin of the neck and depresses the corner of the mouth.

---

Etymology

Origin of platysma

1685–95; < New Latin < Greek plátysma a plate, literally, something wide and flat, equivalent to platý ( nein ) to widen (derivative of platýs; platy- ) + -sma, variant of -ma resultative suffix

Example Sentences

One of the regular subjects, a toothless old man with nerve damage so severe that he could not feel the electrodes, is having his left platysma muscle “electrized.”

From The New Yorker • Jan. 5, 2015

As long as I don’t let my cheek slip in a way that awakens that killjoy platysma muscle, I don’t feel any discomfort.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 5, 2015

It seems to take at least one tug of the platysma to remind my muscle memory of its self-improvement program.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 5, 2015

Duchenne called the platysma “the muscle of fright.”

From The New Yorker • Jan. 5, 2015

Now, whenever a person starts at any sudden sight or sound, he instantaneously draws a deep breath; and thus the contraction of the platysma may possibly have become associated with the sense of fear.

From The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Darwin, Charles