abdominal
Americanadjective
noun
-
abdominals
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of abdominal
Explanation
Anything abdominal relates to the midsection of your body, just below your chest and above your pelvis. Abdominal muscles are sometimes called “abs” and they’re the muscles in your abdomen. All abdominal things relate to the belly area. If your stomach hurts, you have abdominal pain. Sit-ups are abdominal exercises. Do enough sit-ups and you'll have washboard abs because the rippled muscles look like, well, a washboard. Any stomach surgery is a type of abdominal surgery. Sometimes abdominal is used as a noun that’s short for abdominal muscle.
Vocabulary lists containing abdominal
Turtles All the Way Down
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The Hot Zone
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Stuart Little
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
She had been experiencing severe abdominal pain since March and thought the coil was to blame.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Such symptoms include gas, abdominal pain, bloating, and diarrhea or nausea, after consuming a certain amount of dairy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
The number of injections depended on how much abdominal fat each participant had.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
Nacua was sidelined for a victory over the New York Giants and Sunday’s defeat by the Denver Broncos because of a hip injury that caused groin and abdominal soreness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The facts were these: Gunda’s chronic abdominal pain and swelling had been diagnosed by the Mayo Clinic as a cancerous tumor in November 1937.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
For competitive runners, this often boils down to sinewy legs and defined abdominals.
From Salon ● Apr. 22, 2024
Combining inhalation with movement can teach the body to use the trunk muscles in a different way, Wiebe said, so you’re no longer relying only on your abdominals.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 12, 2021
Women tend to be more flexible and sometimes overextend their low backs, and we just need to do a little maintenance to keep our low abdominals, low back, and pelvic floor strong and working together.
From Slate ● May 13, 2020
The exercise above—a modified Turkish sit-up—improves strength in the abdominals and upper back.
From Golf Digest ● Oct. 24, 2019
She’ll have to make sure to add some crunches and leg lifts to strengthen her abdominals and her glutes.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
