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.
Once infected, the flea spreads the disease to humans when flea feces is rubbed into cuts or scrapes on the skin or the eyes.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
Research suggests pets can introduce these chemicals into the environment through feces, urine, and even shed hair.
From Science Daily • Feb. 22, 2026
The parasite’s eggs must be in the feces for two to four weeks before they can cause infection, so officials urged quick cleanup of any raccoon feces using gloves.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2026
In the Toiyabe Range of Nevada, where BTAZ’s BLM and Forest Service grazing allotments border each other, cow feces covered the ground surrounding a stock tank fed by mountain streams.
From Salon • Dec. 4, 2025
They’d been on television, a sea of men in orange sitting on a roadway filthy with feces and garbage, surrounded by guards with automatic rifles.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
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.
