Exostosis

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A benign, bony growth, often covered with cartilage, on the surface of a bone or tooth. countable, uncountable

    "Unquestionably, gentlemen, the bones most liable to exostosis are, first, the femur; secondly, the humeri; and thirdly, the lower jaw. But exostoses are met with on the sternum clavicle, and the bones of the head; in short, I may state, that there are no bones on which exostoses may not be produced."

  2. 2
    a benign outgrowth from a bone (usually covered with cartilage) wordnet

Example

More examples

"Unquestionably, gentlemen, the bones most liable to exostosis are, first, the femur; secondly, the humeri; and thirdly, the lower jaw. But exostoses are met with on the sternum clavicle, and the bones of the head; in short, I may state, that there are no bones on which exostoses may not be produced."

Etymology

From Koine Greek ἐξόστωσις (exóstōsis, “diseased excrescence on the bone”), from Ancient Greek ὀστέον (ostéon, “bone”).

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