torso
Americannoun
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the trunk of the human body.
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a sculptured form representing the trunk of a nude female or male figure.
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something mutilated or incomplete.
noun
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the trunk of the human body
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a statue of a nude human trunk, esp without the head or limbs
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something regarded as incomplete or truncated
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of torso
1715–25; < Italian: stalk, trunk of statue < Latin thyrsus < Greek thýrsos wand, stem
Explanation
A torso is the trunk of a human body — minus arms, legs, and head. Anatomically, your torso's job is to protect your internal organs, like your heart, lungs, and kidney, which are all protected by your rib cage. A statue of a torso in a museum, usually ancient Greek or Roman, is that of the trunk of a human body. These works of art, often carved from marble, are so old that they've frequently lost their arms and heads — but still, the sturdy torso remains. Originally torso only referred to the trunk of a statue, from the Greek root thyrsos, "stalk or stem of a plant." Then, around the 1860s, it began referring human trunks as well.
Vocabulary lists containing torso
The Crossover
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "T"
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"A Rose for Emily"
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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.
See Examples For:
He decided to give classic jerseys a whirl, transforming them into more flattering silhouettes that accentuate a curvy torso.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
The original 1970s machine took nearly five hours to produce one blurry cross-section of a human torso.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Turkey is now seeking the repatriation of other antiquities taken during the Ottoman era: an ancient marble torso called the "Old Fisherman" from Berlin, and dozens of Iznik tiles held at France's Louvre museum.
From Barron's ● Mar. 20, 2026
To recreate the animal, researchers constructed the torso using polystyrene foam and a wooden frame, then added cotton, bubble paper, and fabric to mimic soft tissues.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 19, 2026
It tasted like a foot, but soon, Seven’s own feet, followed by her legs, torso, arms, and finally her head, disappeared into thin air.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
In addition to these works, that garden was full of torsi of men and women, which were a school not only for Mariotto, but for all the sculptors and painters of his time.
From Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Vol. 04 (of 10), Filippino Lippi to Domenico Puligo by De Vere, Gaston du C.
Andrea, then, was wont to cast in moulds of this material such natural objects as hands, feet, knees, legs, arms, and torsi, in order to have them before him and imitate them with greater convenience.
From Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Vol. 03 (of 10), Filarete and Simone to Mantegna by De Vere, Gaston du C.
The first Roman Torlonia acquired important antique sculptures assembled by earlier collectors, with everything restored to perfection—no missing noses or limbless torsos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 25, 2025
Butterflies, when spotted in the wild, or tattooed on the torsos of chaotic girls in their 20s, may be regarded as some kind of a sign.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2024
In ’60s-style dresses, they pretend to apply lipstick, and touch their faces and torsos, as if trapped by expectations of femininity.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
Hands disappeared into pockets below the high waists fully enveloping their torsos.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 29, 2023
For there, in the midst of sketches of hands and torsos was a sketch of someone they knew: Angel.
From "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg
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.
