Meaning & use
cartilage
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Meanings
noununcountablebiology
A firm but bendy body tissue that cushions joints and gives shape to parts such as the nose and ears.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: she tore some cartilage. In technical writing, a cartilage can mean one piece or structure.
Patterns
- cartilage in something
- cartilage between something
The surgeon repaired the torn cartilage in her knee.
Your ears are shaped mostly by cartilage rather than bone.
Smooth cartilage lets the ends of the bones glide past each other.
noununcountable
The tough, chewy part of meat, which is the gristle attached to the bones of an animal.
Grammar: Cooks and diners often say gristle for this meaning; cartilage sounds more neutral.
Patterns
- cartilage in the meat
He cut the cartilage off the chicken wing before eating.
The soup uses bones with plenty of cartilage to make it rich.
Cartilage in the steak made it hard to chew.
Common combinations
- torn cartilage
- Torn cartilage kept the footballer out for two months.
- knee cartilage
- Wear and tear can thin the knee cartilage.
- damaged cartilage
- Damaged cartilage heals slowly because it has few blood vessels.
- articular cartilage
- Articular cartilage covers the surfaces inside a joint.
- cartilage repair
- New techniques for cartilage repair give hope to athletes.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gristle
- Gristle is an informal word, used mostly for tough cartilage in meat, while cartilage is the general scientific term.
- connective tissue
- Connective tissue is a much wider category that includes tendons, ligaments and fat as well as cartilage.
- meniscus
- A meniscus is one specific piece of cartilage in the knee, so it is narrower than cartilage.
Word family
- cartilaginous adjective
- made of or like cartilage
- fibrocartilage noun
- a tougher type of cartilage found in places such as the spine
- chondrocyte noun
- a cell that forms and maintains cartilage
Commonly confused: cartilage or ligament?
cartilage vs ligament
A ligament joins one bone to another, while cartilage is a cushioning or shaping tissue and is not a cord of fibers.
Practice
Which body part is mainly shaped by cartilage rather than bone?
Choose one answer.
The outer ear gets its flexible shape from cartilage. The skull, thigh and shoulder blade are made of bone.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cartilage”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.