viscera
Americanplural noun
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Anatomy, Zoology. the organs in the cavities of the body, especially those in the abdominal cavity.
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(not used scientifically) the intestines; bowels.
plural noun
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anatomy the large internal organs of the body collectively, esp those in the abdominal cavity
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(less formally) the intestines; guts
Etymology
Origin of viscera
First recorded in 1645–55; from Latin: literally “soft, fleshy parts of a body, internal organs, meat” plural of viscus
Explanation
If someone calls you a gutless coward, he's telling you that you lack both courage and viscera. Your viscera are your innards or your guts. In popular usage the term refers to the intestines, but technically it includes all soft internal organs. Viscera comes from the Latin viscus, meaning "an inner part of the body." You won't hear it much nowadays unless you're studying anatomy or describing particularly gory special effects. (Parents object to ultra-violent videogames where bodies explode, spewing viscera.) Don't confuse it with the related visceral, which does crop up often today and means "instinctive." "She had a visceral reaction to seeing her boyfriend and his hunting pals covered in deer blood and viscera, and dumped him the next day."
Vocabulary lists containing viscera
100 SAT Words Beginning with "V"
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Life of Pi
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The Road
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The list goes on, heading off in a very dark palette: Tome, the Vessel, Viscera, Wildfox, Shades of Grey, Brood.
From New York Times • Feb. 6, 2013
Viscera have been pushed about hither and yon, hitched up, let down, reversed and inverted.
From Time Magazine Archive
Viscera, vis′e-ra, n.pl. the inner parts of the animal body: the entrails:—sing.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
This Metheglin is a great Balsom and strengthener of the Viscera; is excellent in colds and coughs and consumptions.
From The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened by MacDonell, Anne
The rest of the Viscera were in a sound State.
From An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military hospitals in Germany by Monro, Donald
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
