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Glite Dictionary
subclavian vein

subclavian vein

1 6.5
A large blood vessel under the collarbone that carries blood toward the heart
  • noun
  • /sʌbˈkleɪviən veɪn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : vena subclavia
  • The surgeon carefully assessed the subclavian vein before proceeding with the operation.

Examples

  • This 44-year-old African American man came to the Emergency Department with a long history of known IVDU, having recently injected heroin and cocaine into his left subclavian vein.

    Academic text (1996)

  • A duplex Doppler ultrasound study showed widely patent left internal jugular and left subclavian veins.

    Academic text (1996)

  • The mass concentrically surrounded the subclavian and axillary arteries, and the subclavian vein was also occluded from the truncus.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The jugular vein is preferred to the subclavian vein because of the lower frequency of venous stenosis on long-term follow-up.

    Academic text (1995)

  • A T1-weighted magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) study of the neck was unable to adequately assess the patency of the left subclavian vein.

    Academic text (1996)

  • During the examination, the doctor found that the subclavian vein was partially obstructed.

  • An ultrasound revealed that the subclavian vein was positioned beneath the clavicle.

Synonyms

vena subclavia
vssubclavian vein
  • Specialized
7.6

A large vein under the collarbone that carries blood from the arm back to the heart

focuses on position beneath the clavicle rather than on drainage function

Surface Forms

subclavian vein singular
subclavian veins plural

Morphology

subclavian + vein

The phrase denotes a vein located beneath the clavicle and this meaning is compositionally derived from 'subclavian' (below the clavicle) + 'vein' (blood vessel). This follows standard anatomical naming patterns that are cross-linguistically common, so a learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Subclavian vein comes from word parts that mean 'under' and 'collarbone': sub means 'under' and clavian refers to the collarbone, so the name tells you this large vein runs just under the collarbone.