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sternocleidomastoid muscle

sternocleidomastoid muscle noun: a long thick superficial muscles on each side of the anterior neck which arises by one head from the first segment of the sternum and by a second from the inner part of the clavicle, that inserts into the mastoid process of the temporal bone and that acts especially to bend, flex, rotate and extend the head.

sternocleidomastoid muscle: a long thick superficial muscles on each side of the anterior neck which arises by one head from...
Image: modified by Uwe Gille, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

sternocleidomastoid muscle (plural sternocleidomastoid muscles)

  1. A long thick superficial muscles on each side of the anterior neck which arises by one head from the first segment of the sternum and by a second from the inner part of the clavicle, that inserts into the mastoid process of the temporal bone and that acts especially to bend, flex, rotate and extend the head.
    Synonyms:
    sternomastoid muscle, sternomastoid

Synonyms of sternocleidomastoid muscle

Forms of sternocleidomastoid muscle

pluralsternocleidomastoid muscles
alternative formsternocleidomastoid
alternative formsternocleidomastoideus

Questions about sternocleidomastoid muscle

What does sternocleidomastoid muscle mean?
Sternocleidomastoid muscle means a long thick superficial muscles on each side of the anterior neck which arises by one head from the first segment of the sternum and by a second from the inner part of the clavicle, that inserts into the mastoid process of the temporal bone and that acts especially to bend, flex, rotate and extend the head.
What part of speech is sternocleidomastoid muscle?
Sternocleidomastoid muscle is a noun.
What is the plural of sternocleidomastoid muscle?
The plural of sternocleidomastoid muscle is sternocleidomastoid muscles.

Words near sternocleidomastoid muscle in the dictionary

  1. sternochondroscapulares
  2. sternochondroscapularis
  3. sternoclavicular
  4. sternocleid
  5. sternocleidomastoid
  6. sternocleidomastoid muscle
  7. sternocleidomastoid muscles
  8. sternocleidomastoidei
  9. sternocleidomastoideus
  10. sternocleidomastoids
  11. sternocoracoid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sternocleidomastoid muscle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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