Cartilaginous

//ˌkɑː.tɪˈlad͡ʒ.ɪn.əs// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Comprising soft cartilage rather than bone.; Related to or resembling cartilage.
  2. 2
    Comprising soft cartilage rather than bone.; Having a skeleton of cartilage.

    "Cartilaginous fish such as the angler fish have a skeletal structure made up of cartilage."

  3. 3
    Having a tough or fibrous texture, usually in reference to a mushroom stipe.
Adjective
  1. 1
    difficult to chew wordnet
  2. 2
    of or relating to cartilage wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
chewychondralchondralcohesivedurablefibrous

Example

More examples

"The species eat squid, octopus, Pacific hake and other boney fishes, various cartilaginous fishes, and jawless fishes."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cartilāginōsus (“full of cartilage, very gristly”), from cartilāgō (“cartilage, gristle”) + -ōsus (“-ous, -ose”); compare French cartilagineux. Equivalent to cartilage + -ous, with modifications made to its morphology.

Related phrases

cartilaginous fish

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.