| / English Dictionary |
TYMPANUM
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected form: tympana
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A large hemispherical brass or copper percussion instrument with a drumhead that can be tuned by adjusting the tension on it
Synonyms:
kettle; kettledrum; timpani; tympani; tympanum
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("tympanum" is a kind of...):
percussion instrument; percussive instrument (a musical instrument in which the sound is produced by one object striking another)
Derivation:
timpanist; tympanist (a person who plays the kettledrums)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The membrane in the ear that vibrates to sound
Synonyms:
eardrum; myringa; tympanic membrane; tympanum
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("tympanum" is a kind of...):
membrane; tissue layer (a pliable sheet of tissue that covers or lines or connects the organs or cells of animals or plants)
Meronyms (parts of "tympanum"):
umbo (a slight rounded elevation where the malleus attaches to the eardrum)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tympanum"):
perforated eardrum (an eardrum with a hole or tear in it; can interfere with normal hearing and cause other ear problems)
Holonyms ("tympanum" is a part of...):
ear (the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The main cavity of the ear; between the eardrum and the inner ear
Synonyms:
middle ear; tympanic cavity; tympanum
Classified under:
Nouns denoting body parts
Hypernyms ("tympanum" is a kind of...):
bodily cavity; cavity; cavum ((anatomy) a natural hollow or sinus within the body)
Meronyms (parts of "tympanum"):
bonelet; ossicle; ossiculum (a small bone; especially one in the middle ear)
auditory tube; Eustachian tube (either of the paired tubes connecting the middle ears to the nasopharynx; equalizes air pressure on the two sides of the eardrum)
hammer; malleus (the ossicle attached to the eardrum)
anvil; incus (the ossicle between the malleus and the stapes)
stapes; stirrup (the stirrup-shaped ossicle that transmits sound from the incus to the cochlea)
Holonyms ("tympanum" is a part of...):
auditory apparatus (all of the components of the organ of hearing including the outer and middle and inner ears)
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