Clavicle
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The collarbone; the prominent bone at the top of the chest between the shoulder and the neck connecting the shoulder and the breastbone.
"Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel, and, when Mr. Ornato had recounted the story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicles."
- 2 bone linking the scapula and sternum wordnet
- 3 The upper part of a spiral shell. obsolete
"The Voluta is a ſimple ſhell, having no hinge, formed of one piece, and of a figure approaching to conic, but short; the clavicle being uſually depreſſed, in all very ſhort: the mouth is long, perpendicular, and narrow: the animal inhabiting this ſhell is a limax."
Example
More examples"Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel, and, when Mr. Ornato had recounted the story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicles."
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French clavicule, from Latin clāvicula (“a small key”), diminutive of clāvis (“a key”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.