feces
Americannoun
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waste matter discharged from the intestines through the anus; excrement.
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dregs; sediment.
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of feces
1425–75; late Middle English < Latin faecēs grounds, dregs, sediment (plural of faex )
Explanation
Feces is a technical word for poop: the brown stuff you excrete from your butt. Everyone makes feces. Also called a bowel movement or stool — plus hundreds of terms in slang — feces is the solid waste material your body makes when you go number two. This isn't the word you'd probably use with your buddies, but it is the right word if you're writing a paper or talking to a teacher. Talking about feces can seem funny, but it's pretty important: if you couldn't make feces, you'd die.
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.
CLIFTON, N.J.—On a laboratory table that normally sits empty, hundreds of feces samples are arranged in stacks six vials high.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Nick Florko: It’s a parasite that is spread by human feces, specifically feces that is left out in the environment to mature and gets infectious.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026
People contract the illness by consuming food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person that contained the parasite.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Cyclospora is spread when people consume foods or drink water that are contaminated with feces.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
To prevent urine and feces from coming into contact with the boy’s wounds, he carried the cell’s chamber pot to Shin and hoisted him up so he could use it.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
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.
