[bawl-uh
n sok-it] 
| 1. | Also called enarthrosis. Anatomy, Zoology. a joint in which the rounded end of one bone fits into a cuplike end of the other bone, allowing for relatively free rotary motion, as at the hip or shoulder. |
| 2. | Also called ball joint. a similar joint between rods, links, pipes, etc., consisting of a ball-like termination on one part held within a concave, spherical socket on the other. |
| ball-and-sock·et joint (bôl'ən-sŏk'ĭt) n.
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ball-and-socket joint n.
A multiaxial joint in which a sphere on the head of one bone fits into a rounded cavity in the other bone, as in the hip joint. Also called cotyloid joint, enarthrodial joint, enarthrosis, spheroid joint.
ball-and-socket joint (bôl'ən-sŏk'ĭt) Pronunciation Key
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ball-and-socket joint
in vertebrate anatomy, a joint in which the rounded surface of a bone moves within a depression on another bone, allowing greater freedom of movement than any other kind of joint. It is most highly developed in the large shoulder and hip joints of mammals, including humans, in which it provides swing for the arms and legs in various directions and also spin of those limbs upon the more stationary bones
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