visceral

From Middle French viscéral (modern French viscéral), or from its etymon Medieval Latin viscerālis (“internal”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Viscerālis is derived from Latin viscera^[1] (a plural form of vīscus (“internal organ of the body”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *weys- (“to rotate, turn”)) + -ālis (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɪsəɹ(ə)l/, /ˈvɪsɹ(ə)l/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɪsəɹəl/, /ˈvɪsɹəl/
• Hyphenation: vis‧cer‧al

visceral (comparative more visceral, superlative most visceral)

1. (anatomy) Of or relating to, made up of, or positioned among or within, the viscera (“internal organs of the body, especially those contained within the abdominal and thoracic cavities”).

   visceral remains

   Synonym: splanchnic

   Antonym: parietal

   • 1850, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Prometheus Bound. From the Greek of Æschylus.”, in Poems. […], new edition, volume I, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 161:

     [W]hat sign / Of visceral lightness, coloured to a shade, / May charm the genial gods, and what fair spots / Commend the lung and liver.

     A reference to haruspicy, divination by examining animal entrails.

   • 1875 July 2, Charles Darwin, “The Digestive Power of the Secretion of Drosera”, in Insectivorous Plants, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 102:

     Some areolar tissue free from elastic tissue was next procured from the visceral cavity of a toad, and moderately sized, as well as very small, bits were placed on five leaves.

   • 1913 August, Arthur B[enjamin] Reeve, “The X-Ray ‘Movies’”, in The Dream Doctor (The Craig Kennedy Series), New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, published 1914, →OCLC, pages 340–341:

     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. All that is hidden to the eye by the flesh is now made visible in striking manner.

   • 2018 November 8, Dr. Melina Jampolis, “The real science behind fascia ailments”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     The superficial fascia surrounds the body and includes subcutaneous fat; the deep fascia surrounds the musculoskeletal system; the meningeal fascia surrounds the nervous system; the visceral fascia surrounds body cavities and organs.

   1. (pathology) Of a disease: involving the viscera.
   2. Of or relating to the viscera or bowels regarded as the origin of a person's emotions; hence (figuratively), relating to or having deep internal feelings or sensibility. [16th–17th c.; revived from 20th c.]
      • 1627 May 23 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), John Donne, “Sermon XXVI. Preached at St. Paul’s, upon Whitsunday, 1627.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 532:

        […] Christ sends Paracletum, in a more entire, and a more internal, and more visceral sense, a Comforter.

        The spelling has been modernized.

      • 1640, Edward Reynolds, “Of the Effects of Love, Union to the Object, Stay and Immoration of the Mind upon It, Rest in It, Zeale, Strength, and Tendernesse towards It, Condescention unto It, Liquefaction and Languishing for It”, in A Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soule of Man. […], London: […] R[ichard] H[earne and John Norton] for Robert Bostock, […], →OCLC, page 109:

        Love is of all other the inmoſt and moſt viſcerall affection. And therefore called by the Apoſtle, Bovvels of Love. And vve read of the yearning of Ioſephs bovvels over Benjamin his mothers ſonne, […]

      • 2011 February 17, Ann Hulbert, “Joyce Carol Oates’s Widow’s Lament [book review]”, in The New York Times Book Review‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 April 2023:

        At its visceral core, grief is a stress response. So scientists have explained, and other experts have charted the emotional journey.

2. (figuratively)
   1. Having to do with the response of the body as opposed to the intellect, as in the distinction between feeling and thinking.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:visceral

      Antonym: cerebral

      • a. 1631 (date written), John Donne, “The 26 Sermon. Psa[lm] 68. 20.”, in XXVI. Sermons (Never before Publish’d) Preached by that Learned and Reverend Divine John Donne, […] The Third Volume, London: […] Thomas Newcomb, […], published 1661, →OCLC, page 409:

        Our meditation of his [Jesus's] death should be more viſeral, and affect us more, becauſe it is of a thing already done.

      • 1915 September, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Prelude: On Fear and Aristocracy”, in The Research Magnificent, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, § 4, page 16:

        [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: Blowing Hot & Cold: Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan. 359 pages. McGraw-Hill. $7.50. [book review]”, in Roy Alexander, editor, Time‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., archived from the original on 19 June 2011:

        Television and other "electric media" are oral-auditory, tactile, visceral, and involve the individual almost without volition. As a result [Marshall] McLuhan believes that the world is rapidly becoming a "global village," in which mankind communicates in a supermodern version of the way tribal societies were once related.

   2. (obsolete) (Apparently) situated in the viscera or the interior of the body.
      • 1624 March 14 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), John Donne, “Sermon XIV. Preached at Whitehall, March 4, 1624.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 283:

        [T]here is none good but God; there is centrical, visceral, gremial gold, goodness in the root, in the tree of goodness, God.

        The spelling has been modernized.

• gut feeling
• gut reaction

• organ (biology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “visceral”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “visceral”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• calivers, cavilers, claviers, servical

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bi.səˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [vi.səˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [vi.seˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: vis‧ce‧ral

visceral m or f (masculine and feminine plural viscerals)

1. visceral

• “visceral”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “visceral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “visceral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “visceral” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: vis‧ce‧ral

visceral m or f (plural viscerais)

1. visceral

• visceralmente

• víscera

• “visceral”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Borrowed from French viscéral.

visceral m or n (feminine singular viscerală, masculine plural viscerali, feminine and neuter plural viscerale)

1. visceral

From víscera +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /bisθeˈɾal/ [bis.θeˈɾal] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /biseˈɾal/ [bi.seˈɾal] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: vis‧ce‧ral

visceral m or f (masculine and feminine plural viscerales)

1. visceral

• “visceral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024