facial nerve

Definition of facial nerve

: either of the seventh pair of cranial nerves that supply motor fibers especially to the muscles of the face and jaw and sensory and parasympathetic fibers to the tongue, palate, and fauces

Examples of facial nerve in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Bell’s palsy, also known as peripheral facial nerve palsy, can occur at any age, according to the Mayo Clinic. — Jessica Flores, USA TODAY, "Coronavirus updates: Texas joins California as only states with 1.5M cases; FDA approves first at-home COVID test; 303K US deaths," 17 Dec. 2020 Alexievich has trigeminal neuralgia, a chronic, painful condition that affects a facial nerve. — Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, "Svetlana Alexievich Is Not Going Anywhere," 9 Sep. 2020 Within weeks, the disease changed, with about 15 percent of patients developing a neurologic illness, such as meningitis, paralysis of facial nerves, or severe pain radiating from the spine to the arms, torso, or legs. — Allen Steere, BostonGlobe.com, "Lyme disease: How we discovered it and where we go from here," 22 Aug. 2019 The first of her operations, for a tumor in her neck, damaged a facial nerve that permanently changed her smile. — Lindsay Crouse, New York Times, "Gabriele Grunewald, Runner Who Chronicled Journey With Cancer, Dies at 32," 12 June 2019 The first of her operations, for a tumor in her neck, damaged a facial nerve that changed her smile forever. — Lindsay Crouse, BostonGlobe.com, "Gabriele Grunewald, long-distance runner who chronicled journey with cancer, dies at 32," 12 June 2019 The next step will be to make a high tech analogue that doesn’t involve using a seal’s whiskers, facial nerve endings, and brain. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "The Military Could Track Objects Underwater With Seal Whiskers," 13 Aug. 2018 Delicate structures in the skull, like facial nerves, taste nerves, inner ear and balance organs can't be affected, while bone filings and blood can blurry a microscope during surgery. — Laura Yan, Popular Mechanics, "This Robot Surgeon Will Drill Right Into Your Skull," 28 Apr. 2018 Ramsay Hunt Syndrome is a rare form of shingles that affects the facial nerves. — Korin Miller, SELF, "P90X Founder Tony Horton Reveals He’s Been Diagnosed With Ramsay Hunt Syndrome," 26 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'facial nerve.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about facial nerve

Dictionary Entries near facial nerve

Statistics for facial nerve

Last Updated

28 Dec 2020

Cite this Entry

“Facial nerve.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/facial%20nerve. Accessed 21 Jan. 2021.

Keep scrolling for more

WORD OF THE DAY

exact

Listen to the pronunciation of exact

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Test Your Vocabulary

Words of Snow and Ice Quiz

Which of the following refers to thin, bending ice, or to the act of running over such ice?

Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way.

Anagram puzzles meet word search.