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The fourth letter of the Greek alphabet is delta, and a capital delta is triangle-shaped. In English, delta commonly means the sand deposits that form a huge triangle at the mouth of certain large rivers. Deltoid as an adjective means "having a triangular shape", and botanists often use the word to describe the shape of certain leaves. The triangular, swept-back wings seen on jet fighter aircraft are called delta wings. Your deltoid muscles—not far from your rhomboids—form a cap on your shoulders, and some gym trainers even treat shoulder and deltoid as synonyms. Can you guess the general shape of deltoids when seen from the side?
Examples of deltoid in a Sentence
Jenny McCoy, SELF, 17 Jan. 2024
The dumbbell overhead press is a pushing exercise that primarily works your anterior deltoids, or anterior delts, which are your front shoulder muscles, Evan Williams, CSCS, CPT, founder of E2G Performance, tells SELF.
—Jenny McCoy, SELF, 5 Dec. 2023
Spending long periods of time working at a desk or hunched over a smartphone can cause your deltoids (also known as delts or shoulders) and lower back to round forward.
—Jenny McCoy, SELF, 23 Oct. 2023
Dumbbell Lateral Raise play iconThe triangle icon that indicates to play Your middle deltoid may be the hardest working muscle during this movement, but your upper traps are working, too.
—Brett Williams, Men's Health, 21 June 2023
Your upper traps, rear deltoids, and rotator cuff muscles will also assist in the rowing movement.
—Brett Williams, Men's Health, 21 June 2023
On an exhale, engage glutes and drive through all four corners of feet to press hips up toward the ceiling, allowing rear deltoids to lean back across the top of the bench slightly.
—Megan Falk, Women's Health, 28 June 2023
Among the guests were Zan Luna, a Flynn fan and Marine Corps veteran originally from Gallup, New Mexico, with a tattoo of the Eagle Globe and Anchor on her right deltoid and a single feather tattooed on her left deltoid.
—Matt Farwell, The New Republic, 30 Nov. 2021
This works the medial deltoid, rear deltoid, scapula, and biceps.
—Stephanie Mansour, NBC News, 1 Feb. 2019
Alyssa Hui, Verywell Health, 28 Apr. 2023
The deltoid muscle has three parts: the anterior, the medial/lateral, and the posterior.
—David Otey, Men's Health, 10 Feb. 2023
Doctors are familiar with SIRVA from flu shots administered too high above the deltoid muscle.
—Lois K. Solomon, Sun Sentinel, 2 Nov. 2022
But a hardware malfunction from the initial surgery caused the suture that was holding his deltoid ligament to his medial malleolus to cause a stress fracture, which knocked him out of a second straight season.
—oregonlive, 27 Oct. 2022
At the center of it all is a deltoid-shaped bridge that contributes to the overall sense of harmony and symmetry of the design.
—Cait Bazemore, Robb Report, 19 Oct. 2022
In other words, these weight cutoffs are the best indicators of vaccine efficacy at different needle lengths, regardless of how much fatty tissue a person has around their deltoid muscles.
—Sarah Stark, SELF, 6 June 2022
During the 2½-hour process, originally expected to take 90 minutes, Anderson took out two screws that shredded the posterior tib tendon in McCormick’s ankle and put in tight rope to secure the deltoid ligaments.
—oregonlive, 10 Sep. 2021
Women also have thicker fat pads in the deltoid muscle—the part of the upper shoulder where the vaccine is injected.
—Emily Mullin, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Apr. 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'deltoid.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near deltoid
Cite this Entry
“Deltoid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deltoid. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
deltoid
1 of 2 noun
called also deltoid muscle
see deltoid tuberositydeltoid
2 of 2 adjective
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