shoulder blade

noun

plural shoulder blades

: either of a pair of large, flat, triangular-shaped bones that lie above the rib cage on either side of the upper back : scapula

a fractured shoulder blade

He has a wing-shaped tribal tattoo between his shoulder blades.

—Cliff Mehrtens

… types who didn't wash and grew hair to their shoulder blades.

—Curtis W. Casewit

Examples of shoulder blade in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Retract your shoulder blades, drawing them into the center of your back without shrugging your shoulders. —Lana Barhum, Verywell Health, 1 July 2024

This can mean that the pain in the back or between the shoulder blades is caused by those sensory nerves being activated. —Amber J. Tresca, Verywell Health, 1 July 2024

Evenepoel, the two-time world champion from Belgium, broke his collarbone and a shoulder blade at the Tour of Basque Country in the crash that took out Vingegaard. —Alicia Victoria Lozano, NBC News, 28 June 2024

The medical exam showed that a bullet had entered below the woman’s collarbone on the right and emerged on her left, just under the shoulder blade. —Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News, 24 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

shoulder blade

noun

: the flat triangular bone of the back of the shoulder that forms a joint with the humerus of the upper arm

called also scapula

Medical Definition

shoulder blade

noun

: scapula