rectum
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rectum
1535–45; < New Latin rēctum ( intestīnum ) the straight (intestine)
Vocabulary lists containing rectum
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:
You’re also at risk of developing hemorrhoids—swollen veins in the anus and lower rectum that can cause pain and bleeding—according to a study that came out last week.
From Slate ● Sep. 12, 2025
A Spanish-speaking detainee at California’s McFarland immigrant detention facility was struggling in May 2023 to tell a doctor, in broken English, that he sometimes bled from his rectum.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2024
Ulcerative colitis affects the innermost lining of the large intestine, also called the colon and rectum.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 3, 2024
In severe cases, patients may require surgical removal of all or part of the rectum.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
Strings of them ran over the surfaces of the liver, diaphragm, intestine, appendix, rectum, and heart.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
The vasa recta around it acts as the countercurrent exchanger.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Solutes and water recovered from these loops are returned to the circulation by way of the vasa recta.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
The descending and ascending loop and vasa recta form a countercurrent multiplier system to increase Na+ concentration in the kidney medulla.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
Movement of water into the peritubular capillaries and vasa recta will be influenced primarily by osmolarity and concentration gradients.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
So after Ascension Day I keep them recta an extra hour every Wednesday.
From Madame Bovary A Tale of Provincial Life by Flaubert, Gustave
Wouldn’t we have died out from these mysterious “toxins”? Wouldn’t our rectums be different?
From The Guardian ● Jan. 9, 2018
At one institution, mice consistently developed prolapsed rectums and died two months after birth.
From Nature ● Jun. 9, 2015
Babies’ mouths and skin were swabbed immediately after birth, and their rectums were swabbed after their first bowel movement.
From US News ● Jun. 22, 2010
A new survey finds that babies born via cesarean section had markedly different bacteria on their skin, noses mouths and rectums than babies born vaginally.
From US News ● Jun. 22, 2010
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.
