The Collaborative International Dictionary
Zygomatic \Zyg`o*mat"ic\ (?; 277), a. [Cf. F. zygomatique.] (Anat.) Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the zygoma.
Zygomatic arch, the arch of bone beneath the orbit, formed in most mammals by the union of the malar, or jugal, with the zygomatic process of the temporal bone. In the lower vertebrates other bones may help to form it, and there may be two arches on each side of the skull, as in some reptiles.
Zygomatic process, a process of the temporal or squamosal bone helping to form the zygomatic arch.
Wiktionary
n. (context anatomy English) An arch formed by the zygomatic process of the temporal bone and the temporal process of the zygomatic bone.
WordNet
n. the slender arch formed by the temporal process of the cheekbone that bridges to the zygomatic process of the temporal bone [syn: zygoma, arcus zygomaticus]
Wikipedia
The zygomatic arch or cheek bone is formed by the zygomatic process of temporal bone (a bone extending forward from the side of the skull, over the opening of the ear) and the temporal process of the zygomatic bone (the side of the cheekbone), the two being united by an oblique suture ( zygomaticotemporal suture); the tendon of the Temporalis passes medial to the arch to gain insertion into the coronoid process of the mandible. The jugal point is the point at the anterior end of the upper border of the zygomatic arch where the masseteric and maxillary edges meet at an angle. The jugal point is the anterior end of upper border of the zygomatic arch where it meets the process of the zygomatic bone.
Usage examples of "zygomatic arch".
The domed skull, a skull that is both skull and face, watching from its dark eyes, the cheekbones, the zygomatic arch traced exquisitely beside the eyes.
He moved the lens closer to an area of the left zygomatic arch, or bone of the cheek.
He was the same Karg Id left in the hotel room back in Buffalo, defunct, with a soft-nosed slug in the left zygomatic arch.
The high-powered round that shattered his jaw had been miraculously deflected upward and back by the mandible, had traveled along the mastoid, and had exited his face above the zygomatic arch, without damaging the external carotid artery in the temple, which would have led to death long before medical assistance arrived.
He was the same Karg I'd left in the hotel room back in Buffalo, defunct, with a soft-nosed slug in the left zygomatic arch.
I saw another bone fragment in the mud as we passed: it looked like part of the zygomatic arch of a human skull, but I didn't stop to examine it.
Radford had been ferrying workers and equipment back and forth for nearly a year now and undoubtedly knew more about the place than Meredith, who'd spent that same period up to his zygomatic arch in organizational details for the permanent colony.
Below the zygomatic arch, the entire face tapered radically, like a too-sharpened pencil.