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Glite Dictionary
depressed fracture

depressed fracture

1 7.9
A break in the skull where a piece of bone pushes inward toward the brain
  • noun
  • /dɪˈprɛst ˈfræktʃər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : fractura hundida
  • When the young woman was hit, the stone or lead missile crushed the soft tissues of her scalp and caused a serious depressed fracture, possibly with the projectile embedded in the bone.
  • depressed fractures of the skull

Examples

  • The doctor explained that she had a depressed fracture of the skull after the accident.

  • Blow came from an object roughly rectangular in shape, resulting in a depressed fracture of the parietal bone, with radiating linear fractures extending outward from the point of impact.

    Davy Crockett, Indian Scout (1950)

  • After the injury, the scans revealed a depressed fracture on the left side of his skull.

  • The trauma specialist identified a depressed fracture, indicating that a bone fragment was pushed in toward the brain.

Synonyms

fracture
vsdepressed fracture
364 4.1

A break in something hard like a bone or rock

is the specific skull injury with a bone piece pushed inward toward brain
impacted fracture
vsdepressed fracture
  • Specialized
1 7.3

A broken bone where one end is pushed into the other

is an inward skull injury with a bone piece pushed toward the brain

Surface Forms

depressed fracture singular
depressed fractures plural

Morphology

depressed + fracture

The noun phrase is transparently built from 'depressed' (pressed in/flattened downward) + 'fracture' (a break). A B1 learner who knows those words can reasonably infer a break where part of the bone is pushed inward toward the brain; it is a literal, compositional medical description rather than an idiom.

Etymology

Depressed fracture shows the literal image of a skull fracture where a piece of bone is depressed, or 'pushed in', like a dent in the head. That's why it means a 'fracture' in which the bone is pushed inward toward the brain.