sinus

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   one of the air-filled cavities in the bones around the nose and eyes that connect with the nasal passages

   Pressure built up in her frontal sinus during the infection.

2. 2
   noun

   a widened channel or cavity that carries venous blood or another bodily fluid

   The scan showed a clot in a venous sinus of the brain.

3. 3
   noun

   an abnormal narrow tract leading from an infected cavity or abscess to the skin or another surface

   The persistent sinus continued to drain fluid from the old wound.

Common collocations

• cavernous sinus Adjective + noun
• maxillary sinus Adjective + noun

A learned borrowing from Latin sinus ("curve, fold, hollow, bay"). Anatomy applied the image of a hollow or curved recess to cavities and channels within the body. The mathematical word sine is a historical doublet.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images