Wiktionary
n. A joint in which one segment has a rounded end and the next segment has a bowl-shaped end, with the rounded end being fitted into the bowl shape, allowing the first segment to move around an indefinite number of axes which have one common center.
WordNet
n. a freely moving joint in which a sphere on the head of one bone fits into a rounded cavity in the other bone [syn: spheroid joint, cotyloid joint, enarthrodial joint, enarthrosis, articulatio spheroidea]
a joint that can rotate within a socket
Usage examples of "ball-and-socket joint".
It felt as if the ball-and-socket joint had exploded, sending bone splinters flying into every muscle and nerve he possessed.
A ball-and-socket joint behind the mount that made the lens wobble a little bit.
Or at least, the swiveling ball-and-socket joint that functioned as a chin, the piezoelectrically activated articulations that served as knees, and the linked multi-axial appendages that were his arms.
Richie felt the muscles in his arm stretch like taffy, felt the ball-and-socket joint in his shoulder creak and groan in protest as the footpounds of pressure built up.
Richie felt the muscles in his arm stretch like taffy, felt the ball-and-socket joint in his shoulder creak and groan in protest as the foot-pounds of pressure built up.
All the joints bent in a rubbery curve, showing that evolution had provided a flexible alternative to the ball-and-socket joint.
The weapon in the revetment of sandbags, timber and sheet-iron on the forecastle of the Chakra was a stubby cast-steel tube nearly as tall as a man, joined to a massive circular disk-plate of welded wrought iron and steel by a ball-and-socket joint.
DeFore, the Cerberus redoubt's resident medic, had performed major reconstructive surgery, fitting her with an artificial ball-and-socket joint.
They took the old prosthesis and they've pared the stump of my left arm back to the ball-and-socket joint.
Malduanan's damaged leg flopped loose below the wound, but the upper limb pivoted in its ball-and-socket joint with the body, as though it still carried weight.
When he reached the ball-and-socket joint of the femur and pelvis, he couldn’.
Therefore, to avoid having ceilings turn into walls and decks become upended, each segment of the hull contained within itself a sphere capable of rotating inside the armored shell, much like a ball-and-socket joint.
He redoubled his efforts, shifting to the wronk's other side, slamming his sword into its metal-sheathed hand until it had broken the ball-and-socket joint in two and the blade had dropped from the useless fingers.
I wandered around the room, fiddled with the ball-and-socket joint exhibit, asked a computer some questions I didn't care to know the answers to, always moving toward the NO ADMITTANCE door.