Standard Lemma guide

suture

noun · verb · 12 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈs(j)uː.tʃə/
  • [ˈs(j)ʊu̯.tʃə]
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /ˈs(j)uː.tjʊə/
  • [ˈs(j)ʊu̯.thjʊə]
  • General-American: /ˈsu.t͡ʃɚ/
  • General-American: [ˈsʊu̯.t͡ʃɚ] ~ [ˈsʊu̯.t͡ʃɹ̩]
  • rhymes with -uːtʃə(ɹ)
  • CMU ARPABET: S UW1 CH ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A seam formed by sewing two edges together, especially to join pieces of skin in surgically treating a wound.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Thread used to sew or stitch two edges (especially of skin) together.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

An area where separate terrane join together along a major fault.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: geography, geology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A type of fibrous joint bound together by Sharpey's fibres which only occurs in the skull.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A seam or line, such as that between the segments of a crustacean, between the whorls of a univalve shell, or where the elytra of a beetle meet.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

The seam at the union of two margins in a plant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

The procedure by which a subject comes to be identified with its own representation, as in the identification of the speaker with the sign “I” within a certain discourse; (by extension) any process by which the content of something is determined or supplied from outside itself.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

verb

Meaning 8

To sew up or join by means of a suture.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: also, figuratively, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

thread of catgut or silk or wire used by surgeons to stitch tissues together

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: thread, yarn

10

noun

Meaning 10

a seam used in surgery

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: surgical seam

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: seam

11

noun

Meaning 11

an immovable joint (especially between the bones of the skull)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sutura, fibrous joint

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: joint, articulation, articulatio

Narrower terms: coronal suture, sutura coronalis, frontal suture, sutura frontalis, intermaxillary suture, sutura intermaxillaris, internasal suture, sutura internasalis, lamboid suture, sutura lamboidea, occipitomastoid suture, parietomastoid suture, sagittal suture, interparietal suture, sutura sagittalis

12

verb

Meaning 12

join with a suture

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • suture the wound after surgery

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: seam

History

Etymology

From Middle English suture, from Latin sūtūra (“suture”), from suere (“sew, join or tack together”) + -tūra (forms action nouns).

Across languages

Translations

77 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: naat — seam
  • Afrikaans: steek — seam
  • Bashkir: йөй (yöy) — seam
  • Bulgarian: шев (šev) — seam
  • Catalan: sutura — seam
  • Chinese Mandarin: 縫合 /缝合 (fénghé) — seam
  • Czech: steh — seam
  • Czech: šev — seam
  • Dutch: naad — seam
  • Dutch: hechting — seam
  • Esperanto: suturo — seam
  • Faroese: sársamanseyming — seam
  • Finnish: sauma — seam
  • Finnish: sutuura — seam
  • French: suture — seam
  • German: Naht — seam
  • German: Wundnaht — seam
  • Greek: συρραφή (syrrafí) — seam
  • Greek: ραφή (rafí) — seam
  • Ancient Greek: ῥαφή (rhaphḗ) — seam
  • Hungarian: varrat — seam
  • Ido: suto — seam
  • Indonesian: jahitan — seam
  • Italian: sutura — seam
  • Japanese: 縫合 (hōgō) — seam
  • Japanese: 縫い目 (nuime) — seam
  • Latin: sūtūra — seam
  • Lithuanian: siūlė̃ — seam
  • Macedonian: шев (šev) — seam
  • Manx: whaaley — seam
  • Māori: hiki — seam
  • Māori: tuinga — seam
  • Polish: szew — seam
  • Portuguese: sutura — seam
  • Portuguese: ponto — seam
  • Romanian: cusătură — seam
  • Romanian: sutură — seam
  • Russian: шов (šov) — seam
  • Spanish: sutura — seam
  • Swedish: sutur — seam
  • Ottoman Turkish: دیكیش (dikiş) — seam
  • Ukrainian: шов (šov) — seam
  • Bulgarian: хирургически конец (hirurgičeski konec) — thread
  • German: Faden — thread
  • Greek: ράμμα (rámma) — thread
  • Ancient Greek: ῥάμμα (rhámma) — thread
  • Hungarian: varrat — thread
  • Latin: sūtūra — thread
  • Lithuanian: siūlas — thread
  • Macedonian: ко́нец (kónec) — thread
  • Manx: whaaley — thread
  • Romanian: sutură — thread
  • Russian: шов (šov) — thread
  • Spanish: sutura — thread
  • Bulgarian: шев (šev) — type of fibrous joint which only occurs in the skull
  • Czech: lebeční šev — type of fibrous joint which only occurs in the skull
  • German: Knochennaht — type of fibrous joint which only occurs in the skull
  • German: Sutur — type of fibrous joint which only occurs in the skull
  • Indonesian: sutura — type of fibrous joint which only occurs in the skull
  • Latin: sūtūra — type of fibrous joint which only occurs in the skull
  • Bulgarian: зашивам (zašivam) — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Bulgarian: зашия (zašija) — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Dutch: hechten — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Finnish: ommella — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Finnish: suturoida — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • French: suturer — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • German: nähen — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • German: vernähen — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Greek: συρράφω (syrráfo) — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Latin: suō — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Lithuanian: susiūti — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Macedonian: ши́е (šíe) — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Manx: whaal — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Russian: сшива́ть (sšivátʹ) — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Spanish: suturar — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Ukrainian: зшива́ти (zšyváty) — to sew up or join by means of a suture
  • Ukrainian: зши́ти (zšýty) — to sew up or join by means of a suture