sciatic nerve

noun

: either of the pair of largest nerves in the body that arise one on each side from the nerve plexus supplying the posterior limb and pelvic region and that pass out of the pelvis and down the back of the thigh

Examples of sciatic nerve in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Your sciatic nerve provides sensations in your legs and controls muscles in your calf. —Lindsay Curtis, Health, 7 July 2024

Fascinatingly, a neuron’s cell body can measure a tenth of a millimeter across, while its axons can stretch more than 3 feet in length, as in the leg’s sciatic nerve. —Tony Dajer, Discover Magazine, 13 June 2024

About the width of a thumb, your sciatic nerve starts in the lower part of the spinal canal and then splits to run down through your pelvic area, each buttock and thigh, and along each leg to your feet and toes. —Laura Riley, Parents, 2 Sep. 2023

Researchers anchored one end of their fiber to the mice’s skulls, threaded it underneath the skin, and wrapped a cuff at the other end around the sciatic nerve in the leg. —IEEE Spectrum, 1 Nov. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1726, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

sciatic nerve

noun

sī-ˌat-ik-

: a nerve that runs down the back of the thigh and is the largest nerve in the body

Medical Definition

sciatic nerve

noun

: either of the pair of largest nerves in the body that arise one on each side from the sacral plexus and that pass out of the pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen and down the back of the thigh to its lower third where division into the tibial and common peroneal nerves occurs