visceral
36
7.8
- adjective
- /ˈvɪsərəl/
:
visceral
- His visceral response to the movie's climax left him speechless.
- a visceral reaction
- a visceral response
- emotional and visceral
All of these intense visceral reactions to the world.
- All of these intense visceral reactions to the world.
- Like I get like a, a visceral feeling of joy for everything.
- Myself, I did react with visceral disgust and contempt for that.
- It's such a a basic visceral human need.
- I think horror can spark certain visceral reactions.
- They just don't have that, that visceral reaction to want to help someone else.
- So I just had this very visceral reaction to it.
- In this column, Bittman described having a negative, visceral reaction to the word foodie.
- Some of them like a more vigorous, visceral kind of experience in driving.
- Because I think knowing is so much more of this like visceral, deep grounded rooting feeling.
- It'll it gave me this visceral way to plug into pure being.
- You've either become a carbon copy or a visceral opposite reaction.
Examples
-
I wanted you to know when you were talking about your son... that I, on a visceral level... knew what you were talking about... and something came out of it good.
-
I'd rather go to a European museum, where you can have a visceral experience of the art.
Academic text (1991) -
I have a deep visceral sense of what hell that must be.
-
It's such a a basic visceral human need.
-
On the other hand, I do have a visceral reaction to sleep training.
-
All of these intense visceral reactions to the world.
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Right now, it's physical, it's visceral, it's spiritual, it's technological.
-
At times, too, they appeared to be swept up in the visceral appeal of their own reporting.
Academic text (1997) -
We know down deep that our worst fears, our most visceral reactions, will pass.
Academic text (1994) -
God, that's great that you had such a visceral reaction.
Synonyms
648
3.0
Relating to a person's feelings and state of mind
329
2.8
Having very strong feelings about something
34
5.5
Felt without thinking, like a quick natural reaction
10
6.0
Causes strong feelings, often sadness or joy
Not based on clear thinking but on feelings or instinct
Antonyms
Compounds
- Specialized
A severe infection by tiny parasites that attacks internal organs like the liver, spleen and bone marrow
- Specialized
Inner thin layer of the covering around the heart that sticks to the heart's surface
How Emotional
Surface Forms
Morphology
visceral = viscera (opaque) = viscer + al
The adjective is historically based on 'viscera', but the figurative sense 'instinctive emotion' depends on a metaphorical extension from bodily organs and is not predictable from the parts alone.
Etymology
Visceral comes from the Latin viscera, meaning 'internal organs'. A helpful way to remember the emotional use is to think of a visceral feeling as a 'gut' reaction that comes from deep inside you rather than from careful thought.