COSTA (costae)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: costae   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does costa mean? 

• COSTA (noun)
  The noun COSTA has 2 senses:

1. a riblike part of a plant or animal (such as a middle rib of a leaf or a thickened vein of an insect wing)

2. any of the 12 pairs of curved arches of bone extending from the spine to or toward the sternum in humans (and similar bones in most vertebrates)

  Familiarity information: COSTA used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COSTA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A riblike part of a plant or animal (such as a middle rib of a leaf or a thickened vein of an insect wing)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

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

anatomical structure; bodily structure; body structure; complex body part; structure (a particular complex anatomical part of a living thing and its construction and arrangement)

Derivation:

costal (of or relating to or near a rib)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any of the 12 pairs of curved arches of bone extending from the spine to or toward the sternum in humans (and similar bones in most vertebrates)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

costa; rib

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

bone; os (rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates)

Meronyms (parts of "costa"):

costal cartilage (the cartilages that connect the sternum and the ends of the ribs; its elasticity allows the chest to move in respiration)

Domain category:

craniate; vertebrate (animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton with a segmented spinal column and a large brain enclosed in a skull or cranium)

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

true rib (one of the first seven ribs in a human being which attach to the sternum)

Holonyms ("costa" is a part of...):

craniate; vertebrate (animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton with a segmented spinal column and a large brain enclosed in a skull or cranium)

Derivation:

costal (of or relating to or near a rib)