Definition of "symphysis" [‖Sym•phy•sis]

• A growing together of bones originally separate, as of the two pubic bones or the two halves of the lower jawbone. (noun)
• A line or junction thus formed. (noun)
• An articulation in which bones are united by cartilage without a synovial membrane. (noun)
• The coalescence of similar parts or organs. (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.

• "Near the lower part of the symphysis is a pair of laterally placed spines, termed the mental spines, which give origin to the Genioglossi."
• "Extending upward and backward on either side from the lower part of the symphysis is the mylohyoid line, which gives origin to the Mylohyoideus; the posterior part of this line, near the alveolar margin, gives attachment to a small part of the Constrictor pharyngis superior, and to the pterygomandibular raphé."
• "The first form is termed a symphysis (Fig. 298), the second a syndesmosis."