protuberance

/proʊˈtubərəns/

Other forms: protuberances

A protuberance is something that sticks out, like a swelling or a lump or a bunion on your foot. A protuberance doesn’t have to be hideous; it could be your nose on your face or a knot on a tree.

The late Latin word prōtūberāre meant "to swell," coming from the prefix pro, which means "forward," and the root word tūber, meaning "swelling." And "root word" is appropriate here, since a tuber is a thick, fleshy part of a root, like a potato. And that should help you remember how to spell the word protuberance. Don't you love it when a word's meaning and its spelling work together?

Definitions of protuberance

1. noun

   something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings
   “the occipital protuberance was well developed”

   synonyms: bulge, bump, excrescence, extrusion, gibbosity, gibbousness, hump, jut, prominence, protrusion, swelling

   types:

   frontal eminence

   either prominence of the frontal bone above each orbit

   occipital protuberance

   prominence on the outer surface of the occipital bone

   belly

   a part that bulges deeply

   caput

   a headlike protuberance on an organ or structure

   mogul

   a bump on a ski slope

   nub, nubble

   a small lump or protuberance

   snag

   a sharp protuberance

   wart

   any small rounded protuberance (as on certain plants or animals)

   type of:

   projection

   any solid convex shape that juts out from something
2. noun

   the condition of being protuberant; the condition of bulging out
   “the protuberance of his belly”

   type of:

   condition, status

   a state at a particular time