solar plexus
Americannoun
-
Also called celiac plexus. Anatomy. a network of nerves situated at the upper part of the abdomen, behind the stomach and in front of the aorta.
-
a point on the stomach wall, just below the sternum, where a blow will affect this nerve center.
noun
-
Also called: coeliac plexus. anatomy the network of sympathetic nerves situated behind the stomach that supply the abdominal organs
-
(not in technical usage) the part of the stomach beneath the diaphragm; pit of the stomach
Etymology
Origin of solar plexus
First recorded in 1765–75; so called from the raylike pattern of the nerve fibers
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.
For all of the good things in their performance it ended with a kick to the solar plexus.
From BBC ● May 25, 2024
And at Paris Fashion Week last year, it was unmissable: a giant, gleaming butterfly hanging above her solar plexus at the Louis Vuitton men’s show by Pharrell Williams.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2024
Once teams are hit in the solar plexus with a loss as sudden and devastating as Tuesday’s — and they’re rare — it’s really, really hard to bounce back.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2022
“You can’t breathe, you can’t feel. The ties are on your solar plexus, not on your waist.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 7, 2022
After this one, he touches my solar plexus with his outspread hand, adding, “What slumbers in the heart is what slumbers in the stone, understand?”
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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.
