From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsternumster‧num /ˈstɜːnəm $ ˈstɜːr-/ noun (plural sternums or sterna /-nə/) [countable] technical HBHa breastbone
Examples from the Corpus
sternum• Ryan was also sidelined with a badly bruised sternum.• In most insects the 1st abdominal segment, and more especially its sternum, is reduced or vestigial.• Trying to sleep on my stomach, I soon became aware of a heating grate stabbing into my sternum.• Carrefour faltered, doubling over as the bullet caught him just below the sternum.• There is a characteristic pain from the sternum to the back with the catarrh and the cough.• You see that tiny spot on the sternum?• Gyggle's hideous cheesecloth shirt, the buttons pulled apart to the sternum, revealing still more tight ginger curlicues.Origin sternum (1600-1700) Modern Latin Greek sternon “chest” 