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Glite Dictionary
ventral

ventral

4 7.3
On the belly side of an animal or person
  • adjective
  • /ˈvɛntrəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ventral
  • Fish were immediately unhooked aboard the vessel and placed ventral side up in a V-shaped trough.
  • ventral hernia
  • ventral tegmental
  • ventral tegmentum

So the fibers coming from your motor cortex go down to this part of the the brain stem, which is called the ventral ponds.

Examples

  • During a swim, muscle contractions of the dorsal and ventral body walls alternate to make the animal thrash up and down.

    Academic text (2009)

  • Earthworms have in common with other invertebrate animals, their nervous systems just inside the skin on the ventral or underneath side.

  • The genitals on the ventral side are also part male and part female.

    Blog text (8)

  • Big panoramic expanse of passive-solar smart window looking out at Rainier on the ventral side.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The ventral side of the turtle is covered in a smooth, hard shell.

  • In many fish species, the gills are located just behind the ventral fin.

  • A bird's ventral feathers often display bright colors that are used for mating displays.

Antonyms

dorsal
  • Specialized
16 6.7

On the back of an animal or body part

Compounds

ventral fin
  • Specialized
6.1

A fin under a fish that helps it balance and turn

ventral fin
  • Specialized
6.7

A fin under a plane or rocket that helps keep it stable in flight

ventral horn
  • Specialized
8.7

Front part of the spinal cord that has nerve cells sending signals to muscles

ventral placentation
  • Specialized
9.3

A way the parts that become seeds attach to the inner wall of a plant ovary

ventral root
  • Specialized
7.4

The front branch of a spinal nerve that sends movement signals to muscles

Surface Forms

ventral positive

Morphology

ventral = venter (opaque) = venter + al

The adjective is historically built from the learned anatomical base 'venter' plus '-al', but the base is not familiar enough for most B1 learners to infer the meaning automatically.

Etymology

Ventral comes from the Latin root venter, which means 'belly'. So ventral describes the 'belly' or underside of a body or animal, and you can see the same root in ventricle, the heart's lower chambers.