adjective
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of or relating to the soma
somatic cells
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of or relating to an animal body or body wall as distinct from the viscera, limbs, and head
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of or relating to the human body as distinct from the mind
a somatic disease
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Relating to the body.
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◆ The cells of the body with the exception of the reproductive cells (gametes) are known as somatic cells.
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See Note at mitosis
Other Word Forms
- somatically adjective
- unsomatic adjective
Etymology
Origin of somatic
1765–75; < Greek sōmatikós of, pertaining to the body, equivalent to sōmat- somat- + -ikos -ic
Explanation
Somatic is a fancy word that just means dealing with the body. You may be tired of hearing your great-grandfather's somatic complaints, but give him a break — his body has been working for 80 years! Soma comes from a word meaning "body" in Greek, so somatic means "of the body" and is most often used in connection with one's health. You may be more familiar with the related word, psychosomatic, which describes a physical condition or illness caused by the mind rather than a virus or a sprain. If you don't want to go to school so much that you begin to feel sick, that is psychosomatic. But sometimes, your somatic symptoms mean you really do have a cold!
Vocabulary lists containing somatic
100 SAT words Beginning with "S"
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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.
“The somatic world is in this place of rapid development,” said Laura Temple, a psychiatric nurse practitioner who founded the multi-disciplinary wellness destination Held Space in Brooklyn in 2022.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
The collective includes an integrative somatic yoga instructor, a somatic healer and a somatic chiropractor.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
The results showed that listening to music with ABS significantly reduced both cognitive and somatic symptoms of anxiety compared with the pink noise control.
From Science Daily • Mar. 16, 2026
Aging, chronic inflammation, or somatic mutations can disrupt communication among these cell groups, reducing normal stem-cell renewal and allowing mutated HSCs to expand unnoticed.
From Science Daily • Nov. 19, 2025
The matter stands thus: If the dream is a somatic phenomenon, it does not concern us.
From A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Freud, Sigmund
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.
