Meaning & use

decussate

verb·Advanced

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to cross or intersect, especially forming an X shape, as leaves, nerve fibers, or lines sometimes do

See it in a sentence

Many nerve fibers decussate as they travel from the brain down the spinal cord.

The plant's leaves decussate, each pair growing at a right angle to the pair below it.

A note on using this word

This is a technical term found mainly in botany (leaf arrangement) and anatomy (nerve pathways crossing from one side of the body to the other).

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