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abducent

abducent

9.9
Causing a muscle to move a body part away from the body's middle
  • adjective
  • /æbˈdjuːsənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : abductor
  • Damage to the abducent nerve can lead to difficulty in moving the eye away from the midline.
  • abducent nerve

Examples

  • Six months later, he developed diplopia with a left abducent nerve paralysis, and recurrent disease was found within the left cavernous sinus (Figure 1).

    Academic text (2002)
  • They usually experience persistent headaches (usually frontal) and early abducent nerve paralysis caused by apical involvement and extension into Dorello's canal.

    Academic text (2007)
  • The abducent muscle allows the eye to move outward away from the nose.

  • A loss of function in the abducent nerve can cause double vision when trying to look to the side.

Synonyms

abducting
vsabducent
  • Specialized
7.7

A muscle that moves a part of the body away from the middle

has identical meaning but differs as an alternative grammatical form

Antonyms

adducent
  • Specialized
9.9

A muscle that moves a body part toward the middle of the body or toward a nearby part

Compounds

abducent nerve
  • Specialized
7.7

A nerve that controls the muscle that moves the eye outward

Surface Forms

abducent positive

Morphology

abducent = abduce (semi-transparent) = ab + duc + ent

The word 'abducent' is derived from 'abduce' with the suffix '-ent', indicating an adjective form. While the components are clear, the specific anatomical meaning might not be immediately apparent to all learners.

Etymology

Abducent comes from the Latin parts ab- 'away' and ducere 'to lead', the same root you see in abduct. So an abducent muscle is one that 'leads' a limb away from the centre of the body.