physiological
Americanadjective
-
of or relating to physiology
-
of or relating to normal healthful functioning; not pathological
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of physiological
First recorded in 1600–10; physiolog(y) + -ical
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How does physiological compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Anything physiological has to do with the body and its systems. You might notice that your physiological response to a scary movie includes your heart beating faster and your hands getting sweaty. You know that the root word of physiological is phys, which refers to the body (think of those phys. ed. classes you panted through). That root comes from the Greek word for nature. Add the suffix ology, which means "the study of" (see where we're going?), and finally, tack on that little ical. Ta-taa! You have turned the root into an adjective to describe the way your body works. Let's get physiological!
Vocabulary lists containing physiological
Silent Spring
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"Take the Tortillas Out of Your Poetry" by Rudolfo Anaya
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The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
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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.
Corresponding author Paul Anciero of the Department of Health and Human Physiological Sciences at Skidmore College led the clinical trial, which tracked weight loss and body composition.
From Science Daily • May 28, 2024
A study published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology found that indoor plants may decrease emotional and physical stress by “suppressing autonomic nervous system activity.”
From Seattle Times • Sep. 14, 2023
According to a 2019 article published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 82 percent of the 2,000 mothers who took their infants to a chiropractic clinic reported an improvement in their child.
From Salon • Feb. 6, 2023
A few years after Dr. Strughold started at the Air Force, he published “Life on Mars in View of Physiological Principles.”
From New York Times • Jul. 24, 2020
Both sets of terms, like their Greek originals, included the whole study of nature, animate and inanimate—thus Boyle’s Physiological Essays of 1661 are about natural science as a whole.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
