visceral
Americanadjective
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of or relating to the viscera.
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affecting the viscera.
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of the nature of or resembling viscera.
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characterized by or proceeding from instinct rather than intellect.
a visceral reaction.
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characterized by or dealing with coarse or base emotions; earthy; crude.
a visceral literary style.
adjective
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of, relating to, or affecting the viscera
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characterized by intuition or instinct rather than intellect
Other Word Forms
- nonvisceral adjective
- unvisceral adjective
- viscerally adverb
Etymology
Origin of visceral
First recorded in 1565–75; from Medieval Latin viscerālis, equivalent to viscer(a) ( viscera ) + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
When something's visceral, you feel it in your guts. A visceral feeling is intuitive — there might not be a rational explanation, but you feel that you know what's best, like your visceral reaction against egg salad. Your hatred of mice may not be rational, but it is visceral, and every time you see one, you feel like you're going to faint. And when you had to decide whether you were going to stay in Florida or move to Texas, even though you had a good job in Orlando you had a visceral feeling that Texas would be the right choice . . . and it turned out you were meant to be a rancher! Visceral can also mean “relating to the viscera,” with viscera being your organs.
Vocabulary lists containing visceral
This Week in Words: April 6–12, 2019
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National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "V"
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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.
Standing by the countdown clock at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, alongside my BBC News science team Alison Francis and Kevin Church, was a truly visceral experience.
From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026
The search for an American airman stranded behind enemy lines jolted the U.S., making what had been an abstract air war feel visceral beyond the grainy footage of explosions released by the White House.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026
“Gravity” reduces the experience of being lost in space to visceral things like breath and movement and the simple act of staying oriented.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026
It’s everything that great art can and should be: visceral, inspiring and unforgettable.
From Salon • Mar. 14, 2026
Something visceral and less tangential than, say, statistics, laws, police enforcement, or television commercials: The issue had to be made personal.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
