shoulder girdle

noun

: the bony or cartilaginous arch that supports the forelimbs of a vertebrate and in humans is made up of the scapula and clavicle

called also pectoral girdle

Examples of shoulder girdle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Cantrell's symptoms continued to worsen, before he was flown from the Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center to Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Hospital in Portland on Aug. 19, 2024 for surgery, which included having his right arm and right shoulder girdle amputated. —Gina Kalsi, PEOPLE, 8 May 2026

Shrugs, while often associated with the trapezius muscles, can also indirectly support shoulder development by strengthening the muscles that stabilize the shoulder girdle. —Daryl Austin, USA Today, 4 Jan. 2026

To start, keep your shoulder girdle and your core tight to support your weight. —Jennifer Heimlich, SELF, 22 Oct. 2024

The movement promotes core stability and shoulder girdle strength, crucial for throwing strong punches. —Health Editorial Team, Health, 2 June 2024

Planks can improve shoulder girdle stability for heavy overhead lifts while also addressing core strength and endurance to improve stability for just about any sport or workout. —Brett Williams, Men's Health, 18 May 2023

The dinosaur has also hung on to 65 percent of its original phalange, ulna, humeri and shoulder girdle. —Dana Givens, Robb Report, 5 Dec. 2022

The latissimus is a powerful muscle that depresses the clavicle and scapula—the shoulder girdle—and lifts the waist up to the arms, while also pulling the upper arm bones toward the trunk and into shoulder extension and adduction (see the illustration below). —Esther Smith, Outside Online, 9 Sep. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1868, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for shoulder girdle

• curdle
• hurdle

Medical Definition

shoulder girdle

noun

: the bony or cartilaginous arch supporting the forelimbs of a vertebrate that corresponds to the pelvic girdle of the hind limbs but is usually not attached to the spinal column and that consists in lower forms of a single cartilage on each side which in higher forms becomes ossified, divided into the scapula above and the precoracoid and coracoid below, and complicated by the addition or substitution of one or more membrane bones and which in humans is highly modified with the scapula alone of the original elements well developed, the coracoid being represented only by the coracoid process of the scapula, and the precoracoid being replaced by the clavicle that connects the scapula with the sternum and is the only bony connection of the arm bones with the rest of the skeleton

called also pectoral girdle