FISSURE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fissure mean? 

• FISSURE (noun)
  The noun FISSURE has 3 senses:

1. a long narrow depression in a surface

2. a long narrow opening

3. (anatomy) a long narrow slit or groove that divides an organ into lobes

  Familiarity information: FISSURE used as a noun is uncommon.

• FISSURE (verb)
  The verb FISSURE has 1 sense:

1. break into fissures or fine cracks

  Familiarity information: FISSURE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FISSURE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A long narrow depression in a surface

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

chap; crack; cranny; crevice; fissure

Hypernyms ("fissure" is a kind of...):

depression; impression; imprint (a concavity in a surface produced by pressing)

Derivation:

fissure (break into fissures or fine cracks)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A long narrow opening

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

cleft; crack; crevice; fissure; scissure

Hypernyms ("fissure" is a kind of...):

gap; opening (an open or empty space in or between things)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fissure"):

chap (a crack in a lip caused usually by cold)

chink (a narrow opening as e.g. between planks in a wall)

crevasse (a deep fissure)

fatigue crack (a crack in metal resulting from metal fatigue)

break; fault; faulting; fracture; geological fault; shift ((geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other)

rift (a narrow fissure in rock)

slit (a narrow fissure)

split (a lengthwise crack in wood)

vent; volcano (a fissure in the earth's crust (or in the surface of some other planet) through which molten lava and gases erupt)

Derivation:

fissure (break into fissures or fine cracks)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(anatomy) a long narrow slit or groove that divides an organ into lobes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("fissure" is a kind of...):

groove; vallecula ((anatomy) any furrow or channel on a bodily structure or part)

Domain category:

anatomy; general anatomy (the branch of morphology that deals with the structure of animals)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fissure"):

sulcus ((anatomy) any of the narrow grooves in an organ or tissue especially those that mark the convolutions on the surface of the brain)

hilum; hilus ((anatomy) a depression or fissure where vessels or nerves or ducts enter a bodily organ)

• FISSURE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they fissure    ... he / she / it fissures   
Past simple: fissured   
Past participle: fissured   
-ing form: fissuring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Break into fissures or fine cracks

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "fissure" is one way to...):

crack (cause to become cracked)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

fissure (a long narrow opening)

fissure (a long narrow depression in a surface)

 Context examples 

Relating to or resembling a fissure.

(Fissural, NCI Thesaurus)

The double-S-shaped fold or fissure on the lateral surface of each hemisphere of the cerebral cortex.

(Fissure of Rolando, NCI Thesaurus)

It is characterized by itching, inflammation, redness of the skin, small papular vesicles, central clearing, fissures, scaling, and/or hair loss in the affected area.

(Dermatophytosis, NCI Thesaurus)

It is an archicortex which develops along the edge of the hippocampal fissure and which consists of molecular, granular, and polymorphic layers.

(Dentate Gyrus, NCI Thesaurus)

A semicircular groove or fissure separating the insula from the opercula.

(Circular Sulcus, NCI Thesaurus)

The fissure of Sylvius, also known as the lateral cerebral sulcus, separates the frontal and parietal lobes from the temporal lobe.

(Fissure of Sylvius, NCI Thesaurus)

The posterior portion of the longitudinal fissure on the surface of the liver which separates the left lobe from the lobe of Spigelius and lodges the ductus venosus in the fetus.

(Fissure of the Ductus Venosus, NCI Thesaurus)

Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI) Physical assessment; appearance of right foot - fissure.

(MNSI - Right Foot Fissure, NCI Thesaurus)

An intracranial venous sinus that lies in a superior and midline location above the interhemispheric fissure along the superior border of the falx cerebri of the brain.

(Murine Superior Sagittal Sinus, NCI Thesaurus)

Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI) Physical assessment; appearance of left foot - fissure.

(MNSI - Left Foot Fissure, NCI Thesaurus)