LOWER JAW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lower jaw mean? 

• LOWER JAW (noun)
  The noun LOWER JAW has 1 sense:

1. the jaw in vertebrates that is hinged to open the mouth

  Familiarity information: LOWER JAW used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LOWER JAW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The jaw in vertebrates that is hinged to open the mouth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

jawbone; jowl; lower jaw; lower jawbone; mandible; mandibula; mandibular bone; submaxilla

Hypernyms ("lower jaw" is a kind of...):

articulator (a movable speech organ)

jaw (the part of the skull of a vertebrate that frames the mouth and holds the teeth)

Meronyms (parts of "lower jaw"):

gnathion (the most inferior point of the mandible in the midline)

gonion (the craniometric point on either side at the apex of the lower jaw)

mandibular notch (small indentation in the middle of the lower jawbone)

pogonion (the craniometric point that is the most forward-projecting point on the anterior surface of the chin)

symphysion (the most forward point of the alveolar process of the mandible)

condylar process; condyloid process; mandibular condyle (the condyle of the ramus of the mandible that articulates with the skull)

coronoid process of the mandible (the coronoid process that provides an attachment for the temporal muscle)

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

lantern jaw (a long thin lower jaw)

 Context examples 

Fractures of the upper or lower jaw.

(Jaw Fracture, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Any relationship between the upper and lower jaws.

(Intermaxillary Relationship, NCI Thesaurus)

The lower jaw bone holding the lower teeth.

(Mandible, NCI Thesaurus)

A non-metastasizing neoplasm that arises from the lower jaw bone.

(Benign Neoplasm of Lower Jaw Bone, NCI Thesaurus)

The tissue of the upper and lower jaws that surrounds the base of the teeth.

(Gingiva, NCI Dictionary)

The whole knack lies in pointing your chin to the sky, and then arranging your folds by the gradual descent of your lower jaw.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Complete dentures cover your entire upper or lower jaw.

(Dentures, NIH: National Institute on Aging)

Additional portions of the skeleton — including neck vertebrae, ribs, a humerus and part of the lower jaw — were later recovered.

(Paleontologists discover new species of sauropod dinosaur in Tanzania, National Science Foundation)

It was long, whitish, and blotched with pimples, the nose flattened, and the lower jaw projecting, with a bristle of coarse whiskers round the chin.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Its lower jaw extends beyond its upper one, curving upward.

(Boxer, NCI Thesaurus)