Congenital Abnormality
cleft palate Audio
cleft pal·ate
Subclass of:
Mouth Abnormalities; Jaw Abnormalities
Definitions related to cleft palate:
  • A congenital abnormality consisting of a fissure in the midline of the hard and/or soft palate; it is the result of the failure of the two sides of the palate to fuse during embryonic development.
    NCI
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • Congenital fissure of the soft and/or hard palate, due to faulty fusion.
    CRISP Thesaurus
    National Institutes of Health, 2006
  • Cleft palate, congenital deformity in which the palatal shelves (in the roof of the mouth) fail to close during the second month of prenatal life. Cleft palate can exist in varying degrees of severity, ranging from a fissure of only the soft palate to a complete separation of the entire palate...
    Encyclopedia Britannica
    Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2025
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