feces

American

[fee-seez] / ˈfi siz /

especially British, faeces

noun

(used with a plural verb)

waste matter discharged from the intestines through the anus; excrement.
dregs; sediment.

feces British

/ ˈfiːsiːz /

plural noun

the usual US spelling of faeces

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

feces Scientific

/ fē′sēz /

Waste matter eliminated from the intestinal tract.

feces Cultural

Excrement; the waste material that is passed to the outside from the rectum through the anus.

Etymology

Origin of feces

1425–75; late Middle English < Latin faecēs grounds, dregs, sediment (plural of faex )

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.

Research suggests pets can introduce these chemicals into the environment through feces, urine, and even shed hair.

From Science Daily • Feb. 22, 2026

Even after the recommended treatment period had ended, researchers detected two of the four active ingredients commonly found in isoxazoline products in the animals' feces.

From Science Daily • Feb. 22, 2026

Higher in the mountains, the evidence of BTAZ’s grazing was even clearer: swaths of ground chewed and trampled bare, discarded plastic piping, cow feces and bones in an unfenced creek.

From Salon • Dec. 4, 2025

An app called "SnapCrap" in 2018 - allowing people to photograph feces on streets and sidewalks - gained wide publicity.

From BBC • Aug. 22, 2025

That transfer is not at all surprising, considering that many peasant farmers live and sleep close to cows and their feces, urine, breath, sores, and blood.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023