Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "spinal" []

  • Of, relating to, or situated near the spine or spinal cord; vertebral: spinal injury. (adjective)
  • Resembling a spine or spinous part. (adjective)
  • An anesthetic injected into the spinal cord to induce partial or complete anesthesia. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "spinal" in a sentence
  • "Immediately after a spinal cord injury the paralyzed parts are in ‘spinal shock’, and are loose or ‘floppy’."
  • "Corresponding to the skull and the spinal column is a central nervous axis, made up of two parts, the _brain_ and the _spinal cord_."
  • "The spinal cord, though it is between one-half and three-fourths of an inch across, or about the size of an ordinary blackboard pointer, has little or none of this fibrous tissue in it, and is very soft and delicate, easily torn when its bony case is broken; hence its old name, the _spinal marrow_, from its apparent resemblance to the marrow, or soft fat, in the hollow of a bone."