spinal column

noun

: the axial skeleton of a vertebrate that consists of an articulated series of vertebrae which extend from the neck to the tail and protect the spinal cord

called also backbone, vertebral column

Synonyms

• backbone
• chine
• spine
• vertebral column

Examples of spinal column in a Sentence

a diagram of the spinal column

Recent Examples on the Web

Wright followed all of the rules hoping to play for years to come, yet couldn’t control the narrowing of his spinal column. —Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 18 Jan. 2025

Then, a thin needle or piece of wire is inserted into the spinal column to prevent any further muscle movement. —Simon Mainwaring, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025

The defendant dismissed was Lyndsey Emery, a former pathologist with the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office who was asked in 2019 to examine a section of Greenberg’s preserved spinal column. —Mollie Markowitz, Fox News, 21 Dec. 2024

The populist and segregationist Democrat who famously blocked Black students from entering the University of Alabama wasn’t killed in the attack but ended up paralyzed from the waist down; one of the bullets had lodged in his spinal column, his presidential campaign cut short. —Baltimore Sun Editorial Board, Baltimore Sun, 14 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1831, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

spinal column

noun

: backbone sense 1

Medical Definition

spinal column

noun

: the articulated series of vertebrae connected by ligaments and separated by more or less elastic intervertebral fibrocartilages that in nearly all vertebrates forms the supporting axis of the body and a protection for the spinal cord and that extends from the hind end of the skull through the median dorsal part of the body to the coccyx or end of the tail

called also backbone, spine, vertebral column