abdominal
Americanadjective
noun
-
abdominals
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of abdominal
Explanation
Anything abdominal relates to the midsection of your body, just below your chest and above your pelvis. Abdominal muscles are sometimes called “abs” and they’re the muscles in your abdomen. All abdominal things relate to the belly area. If your stomach hurts, you have abdominal pain. Sit-ups are abdominal exercises. Do enough sit-ups and you'll have washboard abs because the rippled muscles look like, well, a washboard. Any stomach surgery is a type of abdominal surgery. Sometimes abdominal is used as a noun that’s short for abdominal muscle.
Vocabulary lists containing abdominal
Turtles All the Way Down
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The Hot Zone
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Stuart Little
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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:
Some emergency-response experts express concern that people will waste precious minutes grabbing an anti-choking device when they should be doing back blows, the Heimlich maneuver—officially known as abdominal thrusts—or CPR.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
The new evidence suggests that gradually reducing these abdominal appendages was an important adaptation to terrestrial life.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
In 1982, abdominal pain and bleeding forced her to cancel a tour, and in 1984 she had a partial hysterectomy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
The Duffys also visit the Free States of Taylor Sheridania, aka Wyoming and Montana, in an episode where their young son, Patrick, is taken to the hospital after suffering abdominal pain.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
After resisting the idea of abdominal surgery for years, he had finally relented after consulting with Snell, but now he seemed to be looking ahead to a more distant prospect.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
For competitive runners, this often boils down to sinewy legs and defined abdominals.
From Salon ● Apr. 22, 2024
Combining inhalation with movement can teach the body to use the trunk muscles in a different way, Wiebe said, so you’re no longer relying only on your abdominals.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 12, 2021
Women tend to be more flexible and sometimes overextend their low backs, and we just need to do a little maintenance to keep our low abdominals, low back, and pelvic floor strong and working together.
From Slate ● May 13, 2020
The exercise above—a modified Turkish sit-up—improves strength in the abdominals and upper back.
From Golf Digest ● Oct. 24, 2019
She’ll have to make sure to add some crunches and leg lifts to strengthen her abdominals and her glutes.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
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.
