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Webster 1913 Edition


Visceral

Vis′cer-al

,
Adj.
[Cf. F.
viscéral
, LL.
visceralis
.]
1.
(Anat.)
Of, pertaining to, or affecting the viscera; splanchnic.
2.
Fig.: Having deep sensibility.
[R.]
Bp. Reynolds.
Visceral arches
(Anat.)
,
the bars or ridges between the visceral clefts.
Visceral cavity
or
Visceral tube
(Anat.)
,
the ventral cavity of a vertebrate, which contains the alimentary canal, as distinguished from the dorsal, or cerebro-spinal, canal.
Visceral clefts
(Anat.)
,
transverse clefts on the sides just back of the mouth in the vertebrate embryo, which open into the pharyngeal portion of the alimentary canal, and correspond to the branchial clefts in adult fishes.

Webster 1828 Edition


Visceral

VIS'CERAL

,
Adj.
[L. viscera.]
1.
Pertaining to the viscera or intestines.
2.
Feeling; having sensibility. [Unusual.]

Definition 2024


visceral

visceral

See also: viscéral

English

Adjective

visceral (comparative more visceral, superlative most visceral)

  1. (anatomy) Of or relating to the viscera—internal organs of the body; splanchnic.
    • 1875, Charles Darwin, Insectivorous Plants, ch. 6:
      Some areolar tissue free from elastic tissue was next procured from the visceral cavity of a toad.
    • 1914, Arthur B. Reeve, The Dream Doctor, ch. 22 The X-Ray "Movies":
      "I can focus the X-rays first on the screen by means of a special quartz objective which I have devised. Then I take the pictures. Here, you see, are the lungs in slow or rapid respiration. There is the rhythmically beating heart, distinctly pulsating in perfect outline. There is the liver, moving up and down with the diaphragm, the intestines, and the stomach. You can see the bones moving with the limbs, as well as the inner visceral life."
  2. Having to do with the response of the body as opposed to the intellect, as in the distinction between feeling and thinking.
    • 1630, John Donne, "Death's Duel":
      Our meditation of his death should be more visceral, and affect us more, because it is of a thing already done.
    • 1915, H. G. Wells, The Research Magnificent, Prelude – On Fear and Aristocracy:
      [T]he discretion of an aristocrat is in his head, a tactical detail, it has nothing to do with this visceral sinking, this ebb in the nerves.
    • 1964 July 3, "Books: Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan," Time:
      Television and other "electric media" are oral-auditory, tactile, visceral, and involve the individual almost without volition.
    • 2011 Feb. 17, Ann Hulbert, "Book Review: Joyce Carol Oates’s Widow’s Lament," New York Times (retrieved 10 Aug. 2011):
      At its visceral core, grief is a stress response.
  3. (figuratively, obsolete) Having deep sensibility.
    • Bishop Reynolds
      Love is of all other the inmost and most visceral affection; and therefore called, by the apostle, 'bowels of love.'

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External links

  • visceral in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • visceral at OneLook Dictionary Search

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Spanish

Etymology

From víscera.

Adjective

visceral m, f (plural viscerales)

  1. visceral