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# vertebra

«vertebra» in Mova's school dictionary: **one of the small bones that are linked together to make…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a vertebra; plural vertebrae)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A vertebra is one of the small bones that are linked together to make the backbone (spine). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vertebra/#m1)

2) The vertebrae protect the spinal cord, the bundle of nerves that carries messages between the brain and the body. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vertebra/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons on the skeleton, the spine is made of vertebrae; animals with backbones are vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) and animals without are invertebrates (insects, worms, jellyfish). Humans usually have 33 vertebrae (some join together). Phrases: «a broken vertebra», «neck vertebrae», «vertebrates and invertebrates».

### examples

- The spine is made of many small bones, each called a vertebra. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vertebra/#x1)
- A giraffe has seven vertebrae in its neck — the same number as a human. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vertebra/#x2)
- The doctor said he had cracked a vertebra in the fall. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vertebra/#x3)
- Snakes have hundreds of vertebrae. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vertebra/#x4)
- Fish are vertebrates because they have a backbone of vertebrae. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vertebra/#x5)
- We felt the bumps of our vertebrae down our backs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vertebra/#x6)

### note

Irregular plural: vertebrae (say «VUR-te-bray» or «VUR-te-bree»), not «vertebras». Fact for maths and quizzes: a human has 7 neck vertebrae, as does a giraffe — a giraffe's are just much longer. Safety: a person who may have hurt their back or neck should not be moved until help comes.

### In the corpora

- [Humans and giraffes both have seven neck vertebrae; a giraffe's are each very long, and almost all mammals have seven.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/357-bones-by-name-the-skull-jaw-spine-and-ribs/9/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «vertebra» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/V/vertebra/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.