visceral

English

Etymology

From Latin viscera, plural of viscus (“any internal organ of the body”).

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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bishop Reynolds to this entry?)

Synonyms

• splanchnic

Antonyms

• cerebral

Derived terms

• visceral pleura

Related terms

• eviscerate
• viscera

See also

• gut feeling
• gut reaction

External links

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

Translations

visceral

• Dutch: visceraal (nl), instinktief, diepgeworteld
• German: viszeral (de), instinktiv, intuitiv (de), tief sitzend, aus dem Bauch heraus, zu den Eingeweiden gehörig

Anagrams

• cavilers
• claviers

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Spanish

Etymology

From víscera.

Adjective

visceral m, f (plural viscerales)

1. visceral